


Our Infinite Reality

by aetherbliss



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: (it's weird but please trust me), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awesome Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), BAMF Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), BAMF Carol Danvers, BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Thor (Marvel), Bad Puns, But also, Canon Compliant, Carol Danvers & Peter Parker friendship, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fix-It, Fluff, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt Tony Stark, Irondad, Loki & Thor Bro Feels (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Forgiveness Squad, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Peter Parker is loved by everyone, Peter is very prepared to give out hugs, Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Protective Stephen Strange, Protective Tony Stark, Slow Burn, Stephen Strange Needs a Hug, Thor Needs a Hug (Marvel), Time Travel, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange Parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family, he literally bonds everyone together like, this universe would fall apart without him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28332282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherbliss/pseuds/aetherbliss
Summary: Peter Parker sits on the cool metal floor of the spaceship that is currently hurtling them through the infinite vacuum of space towards a planet where an alien who wants to destroy half of the universe is going to meet them. He sits, watching his idol and a wizard argue with one another and thinks,this is stupid.Or that one fic where Peter's watched enough movies to know that you never face the enemy in their own territory. So, with the help of Doctor Strange and Mr. Stark, Peter begins the quest to save the universe—and maybe find a family along the way.
Relationships: Avengers Team & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Peter Parker, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Thor (Marvel), Loki & Peter Parker & Thor, Loki & Stephen Strange, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Thor & Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 37
Kudos: 183





	1. The Spider, the Wizard, and the Iron Man

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The End of Infinity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18899449) by [FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls/pseuds/FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls). 



> This is a fanfic that was very much inspired by the fic: _The End of Infinity_ by _FriendlyNeighbourhoodFangirls_ so I'm writing this mostly because reading their story made me want to write a Tony Stark/Stephen Strange story myself. 
> 
> But!! It's also because I wanted to write my own Marvel fix-it featuring the characters that I love! (Hahaha, also because I want to fix the literal Trauma Thor is about to go through, and what better way to fix trauma than shoving a teenager and his two dads into Thor's family business?) Anyhow, if you're looking for Irondad, look no further! If you're looking for a brotherly bond between Thor and Loki that isn't cut tragically short, I've got you! If you want to see Peter Parker being loved and adored because he deserves it, you've come to the right place.
> 
> So buckle up because this story is going to be full of bad puns, space shenanigans, and characters living because that's what they deserve.

**Earth-199999: _April 2018_**

Being stuck on an actual alien spaceship with your idol and a literal wizard should be much more fun than it was turning out to be, Peter mused. Granted, Mr. Stark had every right to be annoyed with him, he had snuck onto the alien ship even after the older man had given him clear instructions to turn back to earth. (Still, he thought Mr. Stark would be at least a little proud, he’d helped save the wizard after all!)

Currently, the ship the three men were stuck on was following the predetermined course the humanoid squid-alien had set before being blasted into the relentless vacuum of space. In other words, they were heading straight into Thanos’ territory and Peter knew that was undoubtedly a very bad thing. The two adults were currently arguing over that fact and Peter couldn’t help but frown, his own mind processing through what was happening and what they could possibly do.

“Thanos wants that stone, Strange,” Tony was saying, voice rising with annoyance and thinly veiled anger, “If you just destroy it, problem solved! No more stone and Thanos’ world-ending jewel set is ruined!”

“One cannot simply destroy an Infinity Stone,” Doctor Strange scoffed, arms folded over his chest with his hands tucked under his cloak. “And even if it were possible, the Sorcerer Supreme has been the protector of the time stone for centuries, to destroy it would be to destroy the fundamental meaning of what the Sorcerer Supreme is.”

“Then what can you do with the thing?” Tony snapped, pointing accusingly at the taller man, “Or is it just some pretty accessory to go with the rest of your Halloween outfit!”

Doctor Strange opened his mouth to retaliate, his eyebrows furrowed on his face in a tell of his own anger before the loud sound of fingers snapping caught both of the older men’s attention; “I’ve got it!”

“You’ve got what, kid?” Tony asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice, “If it’s another pop culture reference I swear—”

“No! No, no, it’s nothing like that Mr. Stark.” Peter refuted immediately before turning his attention to the taller man in the room, “Doctor Strange sir, you said that when Bruce Banner crashed into your house he told you he was with Loki and Thor, right?”

“Sanctum,” Strange corrected absently, “But you're correct, Banner came crashing in saying that he and the Asgardian survivors had been ambushed by Thanos who was in search of the Tesseract.”

“Okay that’s good, so then this sanctum, is it on Bleecker street?”

“Yes,” Strange replied, eyebrows furrowing, “How did you…?”

“I helped Thor find your address!” Peter said excitedly, “I dunno the specific day but I had been in a hurry when he asked for directions, I didn’t even realize it was him until I got to school but,” He glanced at Doctor Strange with a grin, his hands clasping together excitedly as he continued, “That means there’s a solid moment in time before Thanos attacks the Asgardians and takes the Tesseract, a moment we could, potentially, go back to?”

“That’s not exactly how it works kid, to give you an idea of how dangerous what you’re proposing is, it could potentially destroy this entire timeline and whatever timeline we inadvertently create by doing this.”

“But that’s what, only a slight chance right? It’s not a hundred percent that going back in time could destroy everything, right?” 

“No,” Strange agreed slowly, thinking the idea over himself, “However, using the stone for a purpose such as this, any purpose actually, is strictly forbidden.”

“So you’d rather have it forcibly taken by Thanos,” Tony cut in, “No offence doc but I don’t care how great the kill-switch is on your necklace. If Thanos manages to meet up with us he’s going to get his hands on that stone and our world, no, the entire universe is going to go up in flames.”

“So if we did do it, go back in time I mean, what would the chances of us not collapsing the timeline be?” Peter asked, moving closer to the two adults who seemed to be calming down now that they had things to think about.

“It depends on a substantial amount of different factors,” Stephen admitted with a considering hum, “But off the top of my head I would estimate we have a sixty-three percent chance of collapsing the entire timeline. Or worse, creating an endless paradoxical loop, we would essentially be reliving the same moment over and over again for the rest of eternity.” 

Tony whistled, “Thanks for the great numbers doc, did you give those odds to your patients too? Oh, wait! I forgot none of your patients had a chance of failure under eighty percent.”

“Mr. Stark!” Peter gasped, head swivelling to glare at his idol before he could truly think about what he was doing.

Doctor Strange flinched minutely before his expression smoothed into stone, his fists clenched into weak fists under the covering of his cloak, “Said the man who made his fortune on a pile of corpses.”

Tony sneered, repulsors whirring as he raised his hand in a motion to blast the wizard whose own hands had risen in retaliation, magic floating at his fingertips in a warning. Before either of them could take the first strike Peter jumped in the way, hands up to separate the two men, “Stop it, both of you! We’re in space with an alien who’s trying to destroy the universe following us! Can we please, just this once, work together to you know, not die?!” 

Both men glared at one another above the teenager’s head, a silent threat passing between them clearly stating that _‘this isn't over’_ before they both slowly lowered their arms. The tension in Peter’s body dissipated by only a bit, “Good, this good. Progress y’know? Now, Doctor Strange, could we go back in time, back to when Thor was in your sanctum house?”

“Theoretically we could but…” 

“But?” Tony prompted, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at Stephen who was frowning, deep in his own thoughts, “Mind sharing with the class, doc?”

“I’d have to send us back about a week before Thor and Loki were actually planned to show up so our bodies could rest from the stress of travelling back literal months which, theoretically would give use a time-span of two days to prepare to go into space and begin to collect the other infinity stones.”

“Oh! And Mr. Vision has to be taken care of too, right?” Peter asked, frowning slightly, “Since he has the mind-stone? So you should get it taken out and then we can take it with us, right, since we’ll be collecting them and all?”

“I can’t tell if that’s a genius plan or an idiotic one,” Doctor Strange sighed, “Thanos and his children will be able to sense the stones on us. And, if Banner was remembering correctly, Thanos will have the power stone on his person which will put us at a severe disadvantage, however, if we can manage to get that stone from his person, contain the stone safely, and get to safety somehow, it would be an ingenious plan.”

“Well, you can make portals, right Doctor Strange? If you don’t waste all your energy we can portal most of the Asgardians to earth.”

“And Bruce said they had been on an alien planet with more than a few spare spaceships, if we can attach on to the main hub ship that all the Asgardians got on, it would be our escape route,” Tony said, rubbing his chin in thought, “We can send Bruce back with the warning of Thanos’ approach which will hopefully make Cap and the rest down on earth get ready for a fight when we return. They’ll have to find and monitor Vision, however, so we’ll have to meet Thanos down on earth for that final stone.”

“Brilliant,” Doctor Stranger breathed, “That’s… I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of going back in time because of the dangers but with what you’ve proposed… it’s got flaws, so many flaws, but we can get to those when the time comes, as it is, we’ve got the basics of a good plan. For now, I have to meditate for approximately three hours to gather enough energy to travel us back far enough in time.” Stephen immediately bent his long limbs so he could sit in a criss-cross position, “Stark, you should fill the kid in on the entirety of what Bruce explained of his adventure with Thor so he can understand what we’re going up against and help us plan accordingly.”

Tony paused and grimaced as he looked at Peter like he wanted to refuse before he sighed heavily through his nose, “Why couldn’t you have stayed on earth, kid?”

For a second Peter hesitated; as if he didn’t know himself why he hadn’t listened to the man he idolized before he steeled himself and grinned wobbly at Tony, “Because I’m a hero, Mr. Stark.”

**//-//-//**

Three hours passed by slowly in the vast expanse of space on the foreign spaceship (A spaceship Peter was very strictly told he wasn't allowed to explore by himself). The first hour had gone by rather fast, with Tony recounting what Bruce had told him before they had gotten themselves stuck in space.

According to what Tony had recounted, Thor's sister had escaped some sort of containment and proceeded to cause havoc upon Asgard and its citizens in an attempt to rule them and the nine realms as her father once did. And, to top it all off, she had banished Loki and Thor to an alien planet known as Sakaar, a place where the Hulk had been residing for the five years he had been missing. Time worked differently there though, slower at some points and faster than others. Loki had arrived in Sakaar two weeks before Thor had, Bruce had told Tony. And when they had left the planet Thor had said that months had passed even though they'd only ever been on Sakaar for two weeks at most.

Now Peter was fidgeting with his suit as he stared at the floating wizard. Tony was off on the other side of the room, arm thrown across his chest as he slept. 

This was probably the most peaceful Peter had ever seen Mr. Stark. It was actually kind of strange, knowing that even though he was technically interning under Mr. Stark, and that he all but idolized him, he hadn't spoken too many words with the genius. Now though, they were going on a mission together, a mission that the world, no, that the entire universe was literally depending on succeeding.

Peter laid back and closed his own eyes, quietly humming to pass the time. He wondered what Ned and M.J were doing back down on earth, how they were doing with his crazy disappearance directly after a spaceship had attacked Earth. Ned was probably blaming himself, he’d been the one to help Peter sneak off after all and now here he was, stuck in space with a wizard and Mr. Stark. 

He wished he could send his friend a message, anything that could ease his mind that he was still okay.

" _Magic Dance, David Bowie, 1986,_ " Strange cut into Peter’s thoughts, eyes opening to look at the boy, "That's what you're humming."

"Oh! Yeah, that's uhm, yeah. Sorry for bugging you Doctor Strange sir."

"Nothing to apologize for,” Strange assured as he unfolded his long limbs and stepped onto the floor, “I usually have background music playing when I meditate anyways, it’s helpful.”

Peter’s grin was nearly face splitting as he moved closer to Doctor Strange, eyes alight with excitement, “Oh! Okay Doctor Strange, are you ready to do the spell now? Have three hours passed already?” 

Strange bowed his head in a nod, the ghost of a smile on his face, “That’s exactly what we’re doing Peter, now let’s wake up Stark and get going before this ship lands. Time is of the essence.”

Peter gave Doctor Strange a mock salute before he swung over to Mr. Stark and began to wake the older man up, carefully squatting in front of the older man and shaking his shoulder carefully, “Hey Mr. Stark, it’s time to get up, Doctor Strange said that his magic is all ready to go!” Tony woke up fast, his body darting up and his hand clamping around Peter’s wrist causing the boy to flinch but not to pull away, “S’okay Mr. Stark, it’s just me, Peter.”

“Peter…” Tony murmured, eyes slightly glazed before he blinked back into focus, “Alright, the docs got us ready to go at 88mph?”

Peter grinned as he pulled the man up to his feet, “Yep! We’re all ready to go, Mr. Stark, it’s saving the world time!”

“It’s always saving the world time,” Tony sighed as the two made their way over to Doctor Strange, “Only this time we have a fancy wizard to help us.”

“The fancy wizard has ears,” Strange drawled as he met the two other space travellers in the middle of the spacious room, “I’ve already explained how far back we’re going to go as well as the approximate time-frame we have before we must join Thor and Loki. However, going back in time like this will cause our reality to shift which is why the three of us must try to stick together once we team up with the two Asgardians because we will be the main cause of this reality shift.”

“So if we get too far away from each other the world will go…” Peter mimicked an explosion with his hands, eyes wide as he stared at Doctor Strange, “Boom?”

“Boom,” Strange reiterated solemnly, “Thankfully, reality should balance itself out by the time we’re leaving Sakaar.”

“Alright doc, now that the warnings are out the way let's get down to business,” Tony said with a grim smile.

Doctor Strange nodded his head before folding his long limbs to sit down again, holding out his hands to the other two passengers, “Sit down and join hands with one another. Then take a firm hold of my wrists, be prepared because this will be an extremely odd sensation but you can’t let go until I tell you to.”

“Like a portkey?” Peter asked, sitting down quickly and gently wrapping his hand around Stephen’s wrist while holding his other hand out for Tony.

“Exactly like a portkey, though a bit more dangerous. If you let go before I tell you, you'll be stranded in time.”

“Alright,” Tony mused as he sat down and took the two hands that were extended to him, “Listen to the wizard or we’ll be stuck in the 1950s.”

Strange rolled his eyes (and Peter swore he saw a ghost of a grin on the taller man's face) before he closed them, slowly breathing through his nose as he slowly opened the Eye of Agamotto, the green glow stretched out from the necklace and Peter squinted against the light, watching in awe as Doctor Strange began to control the time stone.

Around the trio the world began to twist, the spaceship fading into a twist of colours and Peter focused on not crushing the bones of Mr. Stark and Doctor Strange as he sucked in a deep breath. Both terrified and amazed at what was happening around him.

“Peter,” Doctor Strange called above the sound of the wind, locking eyes with him he nodded his head, “Let go!”

For a second Peter hesitated, nervousness swimming in his gut as he glanced out at the blur of colour around him before he felt Mr. Stark squeeze his hand, “Trust the wizard, kid!”

With a deep breath, Peter let go and fell backwards through the blur of colours that was the portal back in time. Wide eyes staring up at Mr. Stark and Doctor Strange as he fell into the endless abyss of time.

**Earth-200007: _February 2018_**

Peter woke up with a gasp, his body flying upwards as he looked around widely at his unfamiliar surroundings, his mind spinning with his last memories of being on a spaceship with Mr. Stark and Doctor Strange.

He gasped, fingers threading into his own hair as he shut his eyes, gritting his teeth as memories came flooding through his mind of the time-travel. He pushed himself out of the bed he was on, stumbling forward and grimacing when he felt a tug of an I.V line on his arm that reminded him where he was.

Just then, a nurse burst into the room, a look of relief on her face, “Oh thank god you’re awake kiddo, we were sure you’d gone completely comatose.”

“Is my Aunt May around?” Peter managed to ask, a hand still against his head as he squinted through the fluorescent lights at the woman.

“Oh yes, the poor dear didn’t leave your side at all, she’s out getting lunch right now because one of my associates all but dragged her out to get food,” The nurse smiled as she moved towards him and carefully guided him back to his bed, “It’s a miracle you woke up you know, none of us could figure out how you fell into a three-day coma in the first place. Now if you wouldn’t mind laying back in you bed, Mr. Parker I really don’t think you should be standing up so soon after waking up.”

“Oh, thank you miss but I’m feeling just fine!” Peter said though he didn’t fight against the woman as she gently pushed him back onto the hospital bed, “Really, I just want to see aunt May and get out of here.”

“You can call me Dr. Palmer, Mr. Parker,” Dr. Palmer said with a gentle smile before a stern light entered her eyes, “And while you may be feeling better but we have to do the standard tests to make sure your brain isn’t damaged from the coma, this may seem insignificant but coma’s like these can cause quite a lot of damage so it’s better we try and catch any of that now rather than later.” She paused then, pulling the clipboard from the end of Peter’s bed and eyeing him with an amused look in her, “Unless, of course, your little coma spell is related to someone by the name of Stephen Strange?”

Peter tensed slightly, his hands clenching the hospital bed sheets as he tried to keep the worry from his face, “Sorry, who?”

“The man who, coincidentally, came in the same day as you in a coma and is currently showing signs of brain activity showing he’s about to wake up,” Dr. Palmer paused then, assessing Peter before grinning, “The wizard?”

“He’s here?” Peter blurted out in surprise, “But he said he was broke!”

Dr. Palmer laughed, “Oh no, he’s definitely broke, he’s so going to owe me when he wakes up. You mind telling me what you and Strange were getting up to, kid?”

Peter shrunk a bit, grimacing at the reminder of what had just happened between him, Doctor Strange, and Mr. Stark, “I don’t know if I can tell you, I don’t think it’s really my place Dr. Palmer. But if Doctor Strange thinks it’s okay to tell you then he will when he wakes up.”

“Alright,” She said with only a slight smile, “You’re a good kid, Mr. Parker, now what do you say we go visit the wizard?”

Peter surged off the bed with a grin, wobbling only slightly as he smiled at Dr. Palmer, “I’d love to!”

Dr. Palmer laughed, handing the boy a pair of hospital slippers and pushing the I.V rack closer to his hands, “Alright calm down now, he’s not about to apparate out of here.”

“You never know,” Peter replied earnestly as he slipped on the slippers and took hold of his portable I.V rack, “He can make portals whenever he wants so I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Dr. Palmer grinned as she took the boy’s free hand in her own and began to lead them through the halls of the hospital, “Well, we’ll just have to go on a witch hunt if that happens.”

That was the exact moment the hallway around them exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I put a cliff-hanger in the first chapter? Uh, obviously. How else am I going to get people hooked on this story? We're all obligated to worry about our favourite spider-boy after all.
> 
> Comments are invaluable, please validate my existence. In other words, please comment and let me know what you think of the story! Please, I love feedback it helps me learn for the future.


	2. This Is Why We Avoid Hospitals

**Earth-200007: _February 2018_**

When Tony woke up, his head was pounding. Granted, he had just travelled backwards through time by three months via a wizard and had been, according to Friday, unconscious for the past three days. It sucked, he mused, that the wizard had been right in his hypothesis on how much time they would have before heading off to space with the Asgardian brothers. It left Tony with a little over forty-eight hours to get his ducks in a row before he was due to save the world.

“Hey FRI, contact Roger’s and tell him he needs to get Vision to Wakanda ASAP so they can do something that'll get the stone out of the guy's noggin. And get me a ping on the kid’s location as well as a guy by the name of Stephen Strange?”

“Of course, boss,” Friday responded easily, the lights flashing, “I’m glad you’re feeling better from your coma, I've alerted Rhodey of your awakening. And boss, are you sure you don’t want to contact Captain Roger’s yourself?”

“No, no.” Tony shook his head, rubbing his face as he groaned, “I’ve got to call Pep, tell her a few things. I don’t have time to get frustrated with the Captain.”

“Alright boss, I’ll start making contact with Captain Roger’s, would you like me to contact and explain to King T’Challa as well?”

“Might as well,” Tony murmured, standing from his own bed and pulling the I.V cord from his arm, “Let them know that the threat is alien and that Thor alerted me about it.”

“Does this threat have a name, boss?”

“He calls himself Thanos,” Tony replied darkly, glaring at the floor, “And he plans on wiping out half of the universe.”

**//-//-//**

Tony knew Pepper was busy running his company but he also knew he had to call her. He loved her so much, she was so good to him and he… Pepper, Tony knew, deserved far better than him. She deserved so much more than a man who disappeared for months on end and came back half dead. More than a man who gave empty promises, a man who would put her before the entire universe.

When his phone rang to indicate that Pepper was calling him back, he had half a mind to ignore it. To just, walk away and pretend this problem didn’t need to be solved. But Tony grabbed his phone and accepted the call, moving to stand at one of the many windows in the Avenger’s compound.

“Hey Pep.”

“Tony,” Pepper’s voice crackled through the phone, reminding Tony oh so painfully of how her voice had faded out when he had been on that ship, “I just got done with the last meeting for the company today.”

“Yeah? How’d it go?”

“Like it usually does,” Pepper hummed before an edge of worry seeped into her tone, “I heard that you fell unconscious a few days ago. Rhodey told me you were basically comatose from how overworked and tired you were… how tired you are. You promised you wouldn’t do that anymore.”

“I’ll have to hit that man,” Tony muttered before he sighed into the phone, “It’s hard to just give up working in my lab, Pep. I’ve been inventing things my entire life, it’s what I’m good at. If I stop doing what I’m good at then what am I?”

“My genius, billionaire, philanthropist boyfriend?” Pepper teased and Tony’s grip on his phone tightened.

“Listen, Pep…” Tony sucked in a breath, twisting around to look at Rhodey who had just walked into the room he was occupying, “When are you going to get back to the compound?”

“In about two days,” Pepper answered, “Are you okay Tony?”

“Yeah I’m fine, Terminator over here thinks sneaking up on people is a fun thing to do in his free time,” He glared at Rhodey while Pepper laughed over the phone.

“Tell terminator I said hello, and take care of yourself, Tony. I swear you worry me more than a child worries their mother.”

Tony huffed, his heart aching as he thought about Peter who had snuck onto a space-ship to help him, and who he had treated so terribly. Peter who created a plan to send them back in time to save the universe, “Yeah well, I think we both knew what you were signing up for, Pep.”

Rhodey coughed then, “Not to interrupt all of this, but it’s the first time you’re standing in three days and you haven’t even said hello yet.”

Tony grinned at him, “Alright, I gotta let you go, terminator’s getting jealous you’re getting all the attention.”

Rhodey shook his head in amusement while Pepper gave him quiet good-bye; “I’m glad you’re up and moving Tony, you scared the hell out of me when FRIDAY told me you collapsed and weren’t responding to her.”

“It’s almost like the good old days,” Tony joked as he headed into the kitchen with Rhodey following behind, “Seriously though, a three-day coma was not what I had in mind for my week Rhodey. You know how much I have to catch up on now, both in my lab and the American drama unfolding right now?”

“Don’t remind me,” Rhodey sighed as he ran a hand down his face, “Please if we can just focus on one world problem at a time it would be great.”

“Oh please,” Tony drawled as he pulled blueberries out from the fridge, “We could only hope to be so lucky.”

“Boss,” FRIDAY spoke, cutting off whatever Rhodey was going to say, “Both Peter Parker and Stephen Strange are currently documented to be located in New York Hospital.”

“Alright,” Tony replied slowly, “And what, do they need their bills paid?”

“No boss, my apologies the news coverage is quite glitchy at the moment but it seems that the hospital has just been set up in flames in the wing both Mr. Parker and Mr. Strange were residing in.”

“Shit,” Tony cursed, his blueberries dropping onto the countertop and spilling, “Why wouldn’t you lead with that, FRIDAY?”

“Sorry sir,” Friday dimmed the lights for a moment in her makeshift apology before they went back up, “If it’s any consolation, the agreement you signed with the Government allows you to face natural threats such as these without their approval beforehand.”

“It’s definitely consolation,” Tony murmured, “Suit up Rhodey we got a kid to save, I’ll meet you there.”

“Tony,” Rhodey said in a careful tone, a bit of worry etched on his face, “You sure you can jump back into the game so soon.”

Tony quirked his lips as he tapped on the arc reactor on his chest, the nano-tech spreading outwards, “We’ll just have to see won’t we.”

**//-//-//**

Peter grabbed onto Dr. Palmer and did his best to shield her from the flying debris and the flames that were engulfing the hallway, “Which room is Doctor Strange in?!”

“He’s in room 413,” Dr. Palmer coughed out, “All these patients are going to die if we don’t do something but we can’t leave Stephen I—”

“I’ll go get him!” Peter told her seriously as he coughed against the smoke, “You get as many other people as you can out through the emergency exit and I’ll get Doctor Strange and anyone who's left!”

For a second Dr. Palmer hesitated before she nodded, pushing away from Peter she surged down to the closest door and threw it open, calling out to whoever was still inside. With a hiss Peter pulled the I.V tube from his arm and made his way through the smoke towards the end of the hall, coughing as he tried to make out the numbers.

Behind him, the sound of screaming seemed to be getting louder and he could almost feel the flames growing. His spidey-senses were tingling, the unnerving feeling of this not being right weighing down on him as he managed to find and throw open the door to Doctor Strange’s hospital room.

“Oh dude,” Peter rasped out as he stared at the flaming demon creature that was looming over Doctor Strange, “You are not looking hot.”

The creature grinned maliciously, sharp fangs bared threateningly, “How’s this for hot?”

Peter barely managed to catch the bomb, his brows furrowing, “A pumpkin?” The creature cocked its head and smiled impishly, Peter’s eyes widened, his spider-senses blaring in his head but before he could throw it away he was sent careening backwards from the explosion. He coughed his face burned and his hands shook as he took to shoving parts of the wall off his body as he struggled to his feet. “Who throws exploding pumpkins!?” Then he noticed the creature raising its arm, preparing to slash through Doctor Strange’s body, “What are you doing!? Get away from him now!”

“Your friend opened a rift between dimensions, boy,” The demon snarled, red eyes burning into Peter’s, “It is a fragile thing, the multiverse, he should have been more prepared for the consequences of such foolishness.”

The demon slashed his arm down but Peter surged forward, his arms wrapping around the demon's waist as they both toppled over the bed. The demon snarled, his claws catching Peter across the waist causing him to shout out in pain, he kicked the demon away scurrying backwards to the bed Doctor Strange was still unconscious on.

“What the hell are you?!” Peter gasped out, his hand pressing tightly on the claw wounds that were bleeding profusely.

It cocked it’s head then, teeth bared in a mocking grin, “You’ve asked me that once before, boy, in another universe. I am the Demogoblin, a monster made from the trickery of Spider-man and his friend Harry Osborn.” The Demogoblin pointed it’s blood-slicked claw at Peter, it’s grin morphing into something terrifying, “You will pay with your life for the sins of your alternate, boy. And I will relish in the agony of your death.”

“I don’t even know who you are dude, or the Osborn guy you mentioned! Seems kind of dumb to take out the sins of one guy on a whole different person,” Peter said, body tense, and he was trying his best to channel his inner Tony Stark, “But hey, if you want to get your ass kicked by two different versions of Spider-Man then be my guest.” The Demogoblin lunged and Peter grimaced as he shifted his weight, grabbing onto the demon’s outstretched arms he tossed the creature through the wall and into the hallway. “Doctor Strange now would be a great time to get up,” Peter said in a terrified tone as he scrambled beside the wizard, shaking his body in an attempt to rouse him. “Come on, Dr. Palmer said you were showing signs of waking up so please—” 

His spider-senses blared and Peter hoisted Doctor Strange up into his arms, pulling the I.V line from the man's arm and jumping through the window just as a pumpkin-bomb exploded in the room.

Peter climbed the hospital building with one hand, tears falling down his face as he slowly, painfully, moved Doctor Strange onto his back. Almost sobbing in relief when the cloak maneuvered itself to act as a makeshift rope, tying them together. He moved upwards slowly, every time he rose his left arm pain shot through his body and blood gushed down his side. Below he could hear the Demogoblin screeching loudly, explosions still rocked the building but Peter was aiming for the open window that was above them. The sound of shattering glass made Peter stop, his wide eyes seeking out the Demogoblin that was now flying through the air on a glider the glint of bombs as he fired down on the crowd of citizens below.

“S’not fair,” Peter rasped, a bit of blood spilling past his lips as he moved upwards faster, “It’s totally not fair.” He toppled through the open window, Doctor Strange’s weight pinning him into the ground. “You’re so lucky I’ve got super strength dude,” Peter bit out as he pushed Doctor Strange over with a hiss. Outside the window, he could hear the Demogoblin laughing maniacally but he was certain they hadn’t been seen. “You gotta wake up Doctor Strange,” Peter rasped out, stumbling to his feet and draping the taller man over his body, “You gotta wake up man.”

Doctor Strange didn’t respond and Peter groaned as he limped through the halls with Doctor Strange leaning against him. The emergency exit wasn’t too far from where Peter was and he almost cried with relief, booking it towards the door as fast as he could. They were on the sixth-floor and Peter almost sobbed when he looked down at the steps, there were way too many. 

Peter rolled his ankle on the first step, crying out in pain as he dropped Doctor Strange and fell forward. The cloak wrapped around Doctor Strange and hoisted him up safely, hovering around Peter as the boy laid on the ground for a moment, tears rolling down his face. Slowly, with shaking, over-exerted limbs, Peter pushed himself into a standing position and leant against the rail-guard; “We gotta go.”

The cloak carefully curled itself around Peter, setting Doctor Strange back on his back and supporting the older man’s weight while Peter began to make his way down the steps, the metal railing he was clutching for dear life warped under his fingers but Peter didn’t pay it much mind. He just had to get them out of here alive.

**//-//-//**

“Peter,” Doctor Strange rasped when Peter was limping down the steps to the third floor, “Where are we?”

“New York hospital,” Peter responded through grit teeth, “The emergency exit stairwell, something managed to follow us through the rift you made when sending us back in time. It called itself a Demogoblin.”

“A what?” Doctor Strange asked, frowning as he carefully maneuvered himself off the boy with the help of his cloak, grasping onto the railing to look at the boy properly, “You’re bleeding.”

Peter wheezed something between a laugh and a cough, blood spilling past his lips, “Thank you Captain Obvious, I hadn’t noticed from the intense pain and the fact that my side is coated in blood.”

Doctor Strange grimaced as he stared at the bloody and beaten up boy before he moved to bend down in front of him, “Get on my back kid, it’ll be easier for both of us if you’re not limping and bleeding everywhere we go.”

Peter eyed him for a moment, “Are you sure you can support both our weights? You were comatose just a few seconds ago.”

“Said the boy who fought a supposed demon after waking up.” 

Peter huffed but slowly clambered onto Doctor Strange’s back, burying his face into the older man's neck. The Cloak of Levitation carefully wrapped itself around Peter, protecting him from anything that may attack them from behind. The sound of explosions wreaking the building from above made Doctor Strange start to move, “Normally I’d create a portal but after sending us back in time I can’t be using my magic frivolously.”

“So we’re both basically powerless,” Peter rasped, wincing as Strange’s fast pace down the stairs jostled his wounds.

“It would appear that way,” Doctor Strange grunted as he continued down the stairs, ducking under fallen metal beams and burning parts of the building, “Do you know the status of the rest of the civilians? Or the current location of the time stone?”

“Dr. Palmer said she was the one that got you in here, she also knew you were a wizard so I’m assuming she’s got the stone somewhere safe. And she was also getting the patients she could to safety.”

Above them, another explosion rocked the stairwell and the sound of laughter echoed in their ears. Strange tightened his grip on Peter’s legs, ignoring the pain that flared through his damaged hands as he took the stairs two at a time.

“It found us,” Peter whimpered, tilting his head to look up the stairwell, “Are we gonna die, Doctor Strange?”

“Not today,” He replied seriously, “We’re almost at ground level, we can make it. Stay awake for me Peter, you can’t fall asleep.”

Peter tightened his grip around Doctor Strange’s shoulder’s, a barely audible murmur passing his lips; “We can make it.” 

Strange grimaced as he threw open the door that led to the alleyway beside the hospital, knowing he was jostling Peter’s wounds even more, “I need a doctor!”

“Oh don’t worry too much sorcerer,” A chilling snarl cut in, “I hear the dead heal oh so well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doctor Strange: *Travels back in time with Peter and Tony*
> 
> Earth-616 Demogoblin: Oh? A random interdimensional portal? Don't mind if I do!
> 
> //
> 
> Originally this chapter was going to be combined with Chapter Three but it just kept getting longer and longer and I didn't want to overwhelm people with the amount of writing there was so I cut it off at a cliff-hanger and called it a day lol.
> 
> Comments are appreciated!


	3. Rifts in the Fabric of Reality

**Earth-200007: _February 2018_**

Tony Stark was panicking.

He was terrified when he flew by the raging flames of Metro-General Hospital where firefighters were already doing their best to get rid of the raging fire. Iron Man, however, was calm and collected and that’s what the hospital patients and staff needed.

“Hey, Doc!” Tony called out once he had landed surging towards a woman who was currently trying to console a very familiar woman.

“Tony Stark!” The doctor gasped, surprise written across her face as her gaze flitted from him to the crying woman, to the burning hospital building. “What are you doing here? Not that I’m ungrateful but a fire seems a little under the Avenger’s pay grade.”

“I’m looking for a kid,” Tony replied without hesitation, “Short, over-eager, looks like a puppy?”

“Peter Parker?” The doctor replied, a frown crossing her lips, “I was helping Mr. Parker to Stephen Strange’s room when this explosion happened.” Her gaze softened then, her face turning to stare at the fire that was burning through the hospital, “I lost him in the blaze, he told me he was heading to Strange’s room and to help the other patients.”

Tony grimaced behind his mask, flinching when he heard May gasp in horror, “So then Peter’s stuck in there!?”

“Not for long,” Tony replied, “I’ll get Strange and the kid out.”

“I left them on the fifth floor,” The doctor said, eyes flitting to the stare at Tony, “But god only knows where those two ended up with all this fire—”

The sound of shattered glass and laughter made them all turn back to the flaming hospital. Gasps and screams echoed throughout the area as people stared in horror at the monster that was flying above them,

“Have no fear, New York citizens!” The being crowed down to them, “For today is nothing more than your reckoning!”

Tony cursed as the monster threw down odd-shaped fireballs, blasting them out of the air causing a ricocheting explosion, “Shit okay, don’t blow up the bombs.” He turned his gaze to the doctor, a grim frown on his face behind the mask, “Get everyone as far from here as you possibly can, help those who are in critical condition get to the ambulance so they can be transferred to other hospitals.”

“Some people can’t afford—”

“I’ll cover it!” Tony snapped before he blasted himself into the air, “FRI, what's his glider made of and how do I take it down.”

“It’s alien tech, boss,” FRIDAY responded, pulling up a rough schematic of the glider from a quick scan she’d done, “From what I can tell the weakest parts would be the wings of the glider."

“So I gotta take out the bird's wings,” Tony murmured as he circled the being. “Hey ugly! Earth’s closed for the day, you’d best be leaving before I show you to the door!”

“Oh, but Iron Man,” The creature cooed, “How could earth be closed when the sorcerer opened such a large door into this very dimension?”

“Just because a door exists doesn’t mean you should walk through it like you own the place, and besides,” Tony rose through the air, his repulsors whirring as they charged, “This ain’t any regular old earth pal, this place is where people like you get their asses handed to them.” And with that, Tony blasted the demon causing it to shriek and fly backwards, red eyes blazing with untampered rage as it rained bombs from the sky; “FRIDAY eyes on the bombs, get them as high as possible and let them detonate, that way we reduce damage to the city.”

“On it boss, watch your three-o-clock.”

Tony grimaced, catching the bomb and glancing at it, “A pumpkin? Who throws around exploding pumpkins?”

“I don’t know, but I suggest you get the explosive pumpkin out of your hand boss.” 

“Oh, I know exactly where I’m throwing this,” Tony grinned behind his mask as he threw the bomb back to the monster, “Let’s play hot potato but a lot more explosive!”

The monster snarled as it glided underneath its own bomb, not even flinching as it detonated behind itself. The demon bombs swung its fist towards Tony’s head he ducked under the sharp, blood-stained claws of the creature, his repulsors purring as he blasted the thing in its side, sending it careening off the glider. Bombs materialized in the creature's hands and it threw them up in the air, snarling at Tony.

“Boss we have to get rid of those before they get too close to the ground.”

“Already on it FRIDAY,” Tony replied, blasting the bombs one by one before stopping, eyes widening in realization, “Shit, those weren’t explosive, it can summon more than one kind that's not—”

“Boss watch your left—” FRIDAY’s voice was cut off by Tony’s shout as a bomb hit his side, exploding and sending him careening backwards into an office building. The creature having used the smoke from the bombs as cover to grab its glider and move to a different vantage point. Tony’s ears were ringing but he could hear the distinct snarl of the creature, could see through the smoke that it was approaching him with claws extended and fangs bared in a sinister grin.

“Good,” Tony coughed out, finishing his earlier statement as he began shoving some of the rubble off his body while FRIDAY worked to filter out the smoke from the fire around him, “FRIDAY give me something.”

“Its bombs are cloaked in a strange energy boss, something inhuman from what the sensors have managed to read,” FRIDAY informed him, “I would put the explosive scale on mark with a regular C-4.”

“And the smoke ones?” 

“It was too far away to be certain, but I think there was a slight variance in the colours of the bombs.”

“A slight variance in colour,” Tony repeated as he shoved himself to his feet, “Alright, anything else you can give me?”

“Knock ‘em flat, boss.”

Tony snickered as he caught the things clawed hand in his own, bringing a repulsor powered fist down on the thing's nose. Claws raked across Tony’s metal face, scratching the metal and obscuring his view followed by a quick series of punches that had the armour buzzing at him in warning. With a curse, Tony shoved his hand against the creature's stomach and blasted it backwards.

The creature shouted as its back slammed into the hospital and with a quick blast to the still falling glider Tony rendered the creature flightless.

“You’ll die for that Iron Man,” It snarled, gripping onto the side of the hospital, “But I’ll be sure to kill the spider-brat before your eyes before I touch you.” The creature shattered the glass of a window and slid into the hospital and Tony cursed, surging forwards only to pull back when an explosion sent flames shooting outwards.

“FRIDAY get me eyes in the hospital, figure out where the kid and Strange are and what exit they’ll be coming through.” 

“Got it boss, Rhodey is currently helping in the safe evacuation of patients should I alert him to the current status of what’s happening?”

“It’s probably best he knows there’s a horror movie knock-off throwing jack-o'lanterns around.”

“I’ll be sure to let Rhodey know,” FRIDAY said in the best drawl she could make as an AI, “Mr. Parker and Stephen Strange are currently in the emergency exit stairwell on the left side of the building, from what I can tell the creature is currently hurtling its way towards them. I’m assuming it’s following the trail of Mr. Parker’s blood.”

“What?” Tony snapped, already propelling himself towards the left side of the building, “Why is he bleeding, what’s Strange doing!?”

“It seems Stephen Strange is unconscious and Mr. Parker is suffering wounds along his abdomen as well as severe burns across his arms and face. He is also preferring his right leg to his left indicating some sort of leg injury.”

“Can I get in there?”

“Not safely, boss,” Friday sounded apologetic as she said it, flashing the lights in his helmet in a mimic of a frown, “There is an eighty-three percent chance that entering the stairwell in any way other than from the ground door will destroy the already weak support. Furthermore, the door on the ground level can only be opened from the inside due to safety precautions and destroying that would also have a major effect on the building's stability.”

“So we have to sit out here and hope they get outside the building before the big bad gets to them and kills them or the entire building collapses on top of them.”

“That’s unfortunately the case, boss,” FRIDAY responded, “However I do believe Stephen Strange is beginning to regain consciousness.”

“That’s good, that’s perfect,” Tony murmured as he lowered himself onto the ground, “I’m going to direct these people out onto the street to clear the way for a fight, keep me updated on Strange and the kid.”

“Understood.”

Tony was panicking, but it would be fine, the kid was smart and Strange was a wizard, if they couldn’t handle an interdimensional creature then really, who were they to try and stop the end of the world?

He scowled to himself. Thanos was a threat beyond anything they’d ever faced and Tony had struggled against a cheap horror movie monster, and while waking up from a coma gave him some sort of pass he knew that when it came time to face Thanos there would be no passes. There wouldn’t be do-overs because this was their do-over. This was their pass.

Tony clenched his fists before he raised his voice, “All of you, this way, paramedics will help you to the next closest hospital you just have to get onto the street!”

“Boss, Stephen Strange and Mr. Parker are on the ground floor and are about to exit the building—”

“I need a doctor!” Stephen Strange’s voice rang out, loud and clear among the panicked voices of patients who were rushing to get out of the alleyway and onto the main street.

Tony spun, eyes wide with terror as he watched Strange stumble out into the alleyway dressed in a patient's gown with Peter across his back wearing the same thing if only bloodier. Then the creature burst out from the top window and hit the ground in a roll. The hospital rumbled ominously as it began to crash inwards and the creature unfurled itself to its full length, a snarl escaping its mouth; “Oh don’t worry too much sorcerer, I hear the dead heal oh so well.”

Tony reacted on instinct, his repulsors raised as he blasted the creature back into the rubble of the falling building before he rushed to Strange and Peter, “Get out to the main street, find Rhodey and tell him to fly Peter back to the compound, we’ve got some of the best doctor’s around.”

“But—”

“Strange you’re in a hospital gown, if you want to come back and fight do it once the kid is safe, got it?”

Doctor Strange grimaced but he hoisted Peter back up and rushed out the way Tony had pointed, leaving the monster to him, “Listen, I don’t know what you are and frankly I don’t give a shit, but you hurt the kid and trust me when I tell you this; you’re going to regret ever laying a single claw on him.”

The creature heaved a laugh, pushing itself out of the rubble and eyeing Tony amusedly, “I am the Demogoblin, Tony Stark, and the only one who will be having regrets here today is you.” 

The Demogoblin lunged then, with its teeth bared widely and Tony stood his ground. Arms crossed and a scowl on his face behind his mask, “FRIDAY, stun him.” FRIDAY reacted immediately and the Demogoblin screeched in pain, it’s knees hitting the dirt as electricity coursed through its body in enough waves to seemingly knock it unconscious, “Get a suit to take it back to the compound for questioning, I’ve got to check on the doc.”

“On it boss.” 

Tony turned away from the Demogoblin and made his way towards the main street, scanning through the crowd of patients, curious citizens, and emergency responders in search of Doctor Strange. While he wasn’t too worried about Strange he still hoped the man had managed to find Rhodey through the chaos so they could get Peter out of the crowd and to a facility that would be able to treat him far faster than any public hospital.

“Boss, behind you!”

Tony spun on his feet and gave a shout of surprise when the Demogoblin slammed into him, its body still twitching involuntarily from the electricity FRIDAY had stunned it with. Its claws were tearing at the armour layered against his chest, claws curling into the layered grooves of his armour and pulling upwards, tearing the tech off.

Tony cursed before he raised his feet and slammed them against its abdomen, a blast of power from the repulsors on his boots sent the Demogoblin stumbling back. It stood, still unsteady on its feet and snarled at him before lunging again.

"FRIDAY, knock this thing out!"

"I'm trying boss, but I'm not sure how much of a voltage it can withstand before permanent damage is inflicted so stunning it is quite difficult."

Tony grit his teeth as he sent another blast towards the Demogoblin, "Then capture and contain it FRI. We just have to get this thing back to the compound before it destroys anything else."

"Don't think I will be bending to your will so easily Tony Stark," The Demogoblin snarled as it stalked forward, "You know, there is an annoying similarity between you and the Stark of my world."

"What? We're both rich, handsome, and insanely smart?"

The Demogoblin scoffed in an uncomfortably human way, "You are both overconfident ego-maniacs who care for nothing more than themselves."

"Yeah well," Tony shrugged in a faux-natural way, "It's the natural behaviour of a Stark man."

It scoffed out a laugh then, red eyes peering eerily at Tony, "I am not the first you will face, Tony Stark. Your wizard has opened a rift in the very fabric of reality. You have invited your universe to threats you could only dream of." A suit of armour came around the corner then, the armour that Tony had once created with the purpose of containing the Hulk should the need have ever arrived, and snapped itself around the Demogoblin, constricting the demon's movement. As the faceplate slowly began to close the Demogoblin grinned toothily, "Welcome to the fight of the universe, Tony Stark, hopefully, you are ready for what you've begun."

Tony grimaced at its words before he composed himself, "FRIDAY, send it off to the compound, put it in the containment cell we made for the big guy."

"On it boss, and just so you're aware, Stephen Strange is currently across the street with Dr. Palmer." FRIDAY hesitated before continuing, "Rhodey has Mr. Parker with him and is currently on his way to the compound but the wounds Mr. Parker faced were severe. Stephen Strange has informed us that most of those wounds were the direct result of Mr. Parker protecting him while he was still unconscious."

"Got it," Tony replied shortly, shooting off into the sky and pinpointing Strange through the crowd. He surged towards them, the nano-tech making up his face fading back into his arc-reactor, "Hey doc, good to see you've got your magic cape back, oh and the amulet of breaking the literal fabric of reality."

"I warned you before we used the time stone, Stark," Strange said pointedly, rising himself into his full height as he glared at the shorter man, "I told you there were consequences to going back. It disrupts reality, Tony."

"Yeah, well the kid paid for it because you couldn't get back up," Tony snapped, "He's hurt, Strange, so hurt that FRIDAY'S worried even though she knows the kids got super healing. If he's not healed by the time Loki and Thor show up it's on you."

“I told you and the kid that there were risks of going through with this, Stark!” Strange snapped out, jabbing his shaking fingers against Tony’s suit, “I told you this would be dangerous. I told you there were so many possible ways that this could go wrong this isn’t on me, Stark, it’s on all of us.” 

Tony crossed his arms, scowling at nothing in particular before he turned his attention to the woman who had been watching them like a tennis match, “Is he good to go or should we send him to another facility?”

“He’s all set,” Dr. Palmer said slowly, “Though I wouldn’t suggest using any magic or getting into any fights.”

“Too late for that,” Tony drawled before sighing and running an armoured hand across his face, “Alright Strange, we’re heading back to the compound. You can’t use magic therefore I’m going to carry you there and if you annoy me in any way, I’ll drop you.”

Doctor Strange scoffed, “I’m sure there are more efficient ways of getting back to the Avenger’s compound than by flying.”

“Oh yeah,” Tony agreed casually, “There are a ton of more efficient and less embarrassing ways of getting to the compound but this is the fastest way there while your magic is down so unless you’ve got a better plan…” Tony grinned mockingly at Strange, “You’d best hold on tight, doc.”

**//-//-//**

_[21 February 2018, 15:31]_

 **Mal** 🐰 _@tonystarksleftasscheek_

that moment when youre at the hospital bc u broke youre arm and everything blows up. srsly tho can someone pls tell me why I watched tony stark fight a demon outside metro-general hospital like,,, huh??? 

_[21 February 2018, 15:36]_

**Daily Bugle News** ☑ _@daily_bugle_

Today's Devastating attack on New York’s Metropolitan General Hospital leaves patients in critical conditions. Accounted sightings and video footage of the heroes Iron Man ( _@officialtonystark_ ) and War Machine ( _@jamesrhodes_ ) leaves citizens wondering if this was an isolated event or if this was another example of an Avengers problem that has directly affected the public.

Click the link below for video footage recorded by esteemed Daily Bugle reporter _@irene_mw_.

_[21 February 2018, 15:43]_

**Cappycorn** _@venti_latte_

Hey, _@irene_mw_ if you’re going to record Iron Man saving people, maybe keep in the parts where he gets thrown into buildings to keep everyone from exploding, okay? 

Here’s real uncut and unbiased video footage of todays attack on Metro-General hospital, don’t believe the lies that reporter companies like _@daily_bugle_ spread. It’s disgustingly BIASED and FALSE information that is being used to harm the Avengers name.

_[21 February 2018, 15:57]_

**Iron Man** ☑ _@officialtonystark_

In lieu of today’s events, I find it incredibly important to address the harm that was inflicted upon the patients and staff at Metropolitan General Hospital and offer my sincere condolences as well as insurance coverage to all who were affected in today’s attack. 

I would also like to counter all claims that this was an incident connected with the Avengers by informing the public that the reason I and War Machine were alerted to the attack was that a student who is currently interning at Stark Industries was residing in that hospital at the time. 

_[21 February 2018, 16:03]_

💫 **viviana** 💫 _@dekusicx_

hey I know we’re in serious times right now and everyones mad but like,, there’s video’s of him talking to two ppl and I looked into it, the tall one was Stephen Strange; he was a neurosurgeon who got into a real bad car accident and can’t operate anymore. the kid was a bit harder to pinpoint bc of all the blood and burns but I got a match, he’s _@peter_pxrker_ a student down at Midtown high lol, so ig tony starks got a kid guys

_[21 February 2018, 16:14]_

**Cappycorn** _@venti_latte_

Reply to _@dekusicx_

Are you serious?? The audacity you have to post false claims in regards to a child's information on a live platform is outstanding. You know how much attention you’ve put on a child? How much harm this could have on the boy and his family?

I hope _@officialtonystark_ sues the shit out of you because it’s the least you deserve.

**//-//-//**

Tony groaned as he set his phone down on the bedside table, glancing over at Peter’s still unconscious form. The boy was healing fast as per-usual but the doctors were assuming that the burns wouldn’t be fully healed for a full week, spiders weren’t meant to be burned after all.

Doctor Strange was somewhere in the compound meditating under the watchful eyes of Rhodey and FRIDAY. 

“Mr. Stark, where’s Doctor Strange?”

Tony jumped to his feet immediately, eyes wide as he stared at the boy before he shook his head, “The wizard's fine kid, you’re the one who took most of the damage.”

“It threw exploding pumpkins,” Peter deadpanned quietly, his face showing just how done he was with the day, “What kind of dick throws exploding pumpkins?”

“The alternate dimension type,” Tony responded sagely before he sobered his expression, “How are you feeling kid?”

“Like I got hit by a flaming bus.”

“You’re not that far off actually.”

Peter laughed a bit at that before he slowly pushed himself up, leaning against Tony slightly, “Are you okay Mr. Stark?”

“I’ve been worse,” Tony mused before he grinned at Peter mischievously, “People on Twitter are arguing whether or not you’re my secret love child or not.”

“You’re kidding,” Peter deadpanned immediately only to laugh at Tony’s serious face, “Oh come on, now you’ve got to let me see!”

Tony grabbed his phone with a grin, moving to sit beside Peter on the bed, “And don’t worry, I’m suing the major companies and the person who spread this rumour.”

“Is that necessary?”

“By telling the entire world you’re my son they’ve put not only you but your Aunt May in danger as well.”

“Sue them so hard they wish they were never born.”

Tony threw his head back and laughed loudly and Peter dissolved into laughter beside him; it was a nice ending to their overly-stressful day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what to put here lol, uh #tonystarkhasason is trending on earth-200007 Twitter right now lol
> 
> On a more serious note, I guess lol, it's been a day since they woke up from time travelling and they've already had to fight a villain but you know what they say, heroes never get days off. Poor Rhodey is probably like, what is going on?!?!?!? Also no cliffhanger today, aren't you all proud? :)


	4. In Regards to Your Worries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My glasses are broken which sucks, thankfully I have insurance over them :)
> 
> Anyway, I apologize for any spelling mistakes. I tried to make sure there were none but you can't always catch 'em all.
> 
> Also, there are so many references in this chapter alone eye—

**Earth-200007: _February 2018_**

As much as Peter wanted to bounce out of the hospital bed and tell the people that were currently fussing over him that he was okay, Peter knew it would hurt too much to even try. Most of his more dire wounds had healed with the exception of the burns that covered his hands, bottom have of his face, and forearms and the still healing scratches across his abdomen which were already beginning to slowly scar over.

When he had first woken up enough to understand anything Mr. Stark and Doctor Strange had both been in his room, one on each side talking furiously over him until he had stirred enough to slur out a pained; _what’s going on._ When Peter had begun to push himself up in bed Doctor Strange had pushed him back down gently while Mr. Stark had ordered him to bed-rest, claiming he didn’t want to deal with Peter’s body when he finally collapsed from either pain, exhaustion, or just plain death. It was strangely thoughtful considering he came in every other phone call to talk with him and ask about how he was feeling.

Doctor Strange was much the same way, though he would never leave the room the man would simply meditate in the corner like a silent bodyguard while Peter scrolled through Twitter and jammed to his different Spotify playlists or talked to Mr. Stark or a nurse about how he was feeling. Strange was always quick to tell a nurse if something was wrong in their procedure, a pointed eye and tongue scathing remark of _aren’t you supposed to be the best?_ negated any attempts of sabotaging Peter’s slower than normal healing.

In those quiet hours alone with Doctor Strange, Peter had switched through a multitude of different playlists featuring old songs and other sorts of popular music. All of which Doctor Strange was able to tell him with perfect detail the artist and the year they’d been produced with exception to more teenage based music. Doctor Strange seemingly enjoyed the swift changes too, Peter noticed as he changed the music from a playlist featuring _Lady Gaga_ to _David Bowie’s Best Hits_. Casually tapping his hands to the beat of the music, meditating almost easier with the ever-changing music.

Currently, Peter was scrolling through Twitter (and wasn’t that a mess, one moment _#tonystarkhasason_ is trending and six hours later _#tonystarkissuing_ and _#peterparkerisaliteralmood_ was in the top of the charts, he was famous now, he supposed.) while Doctor Strange meditated in the corner of his room on one of the many pillows Peter had accumulated into the medical room. _Space Oddity_ playing lowly from FRIDAY’s speakers, 

He grinned to himself as he went through the different threads he was tagged in, laughing abruptly at one thread and accidentally startling Doctor Strange from his meditation.

“Are you alright Peter?”

“Hmm?” Peter asked, grinning as he typed in his own tweet, “Sorry yeah, I’m fine just this Twitter thread is insane.”

“Can I see?”

Peter snickered but nodded, motioning for the older man to come over while he sat up carefully.

**//-//-//**

_[22 February 2018, 09:27]_

 **Mal🐰** _@tonystarksleftasscheek_

hey _@peter_pxrker_ I know u don’t know me but are you free next weekend, we should go get some coffee ;)

_#peterparkerisaliteralmood_

_[22 February 2018, 09:31]_

**Simp Award** _@huggable_cactus_

Reply to _@tonystarksleftasscheek_

YOUR USERNAME GIRL TF LOL

_[22 February 2018, 9:33]_

**L** _@lighthadapoint_

Reply to _@tonystarksleftasscheek_

omfg look at this plase guys

_@heavinlycxcks @milissako @venusplytrap_

_[22 February 2018, 9:37]_

**Mjolnir** _@thorsrightnutsack_

Reply to _@tonystarksleftasscheek_

The bravery to ask him out when his dad’s literally checking all posts that have _@peter_pxrker_ in them

_[22 February 2018, 9:43]_

**Peter** _@peter_pxrker_

Reply to _@tonystarksleftasscheek_

Sorry, I’d only date the right side :/

_[22 February 2018, 9:45]_

**Monica** _@vascrul_

Reply to _@peter_pxrker_

LMAO, the fact that you actually responded  
also glad ur awake dude

_#peterparkersawake_

_[22 February 2018, 9:47]_

Mal🐰 @tonystarksleftasscheek

Reply to _@peter_pxrker_

God damn it, you won them fair and square _@tonystarksrightasscheek_

_[22 February 2018, 9:51]_

**Hiking Trails Are Overrated** _@kendosimp_

The fact that _@peter_pxrker_ just woke up from a hospital fire and checked twitter first thing is such a mood omg

_#peterparkerisaliteralmood #peterparkerisawake_

_[22 February 2018, 9:53]_

**AVENGERS ASSEMBLE** _@tonystarksrightasscheek_

Reply to _@peter_pxrker_

If you ever come to England lemme know, we can set something up ;)

**//-//-//**

Strange smiled underneath the cover of the cloak as he and Peter scrolled through the different threads, “I forgot that people on the internet have little to no shame.”

“It’s funny,” Peter said as he closed the app and began skipping through a few songs on a different playlist. “I mean, a couple of days ago I was literally nobody and now my Twitter is blowing up and people are asking all these questions. It’s insane.”

“You should be careful with that Peter,” Strange warned after a moment, amusement still dancing in his eyes, “As funny as it is that people are trying to make light of the current situation, you have been put in danger.”

“Well we’re leaving in a couple of days aren’t we?” Peter asked as he laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as the low hum of _rose-colored boy_ played through FRIDAY’s speakers. “We’ll be heading off into space with the Asgardian brothers to save the entire universe so it won’t really matter.”

Doctor Strange sighed as he glanced back at Peter who was playing with the bandages wrapped around his arm, “We will be coming back at some point you know, it’s not as though life on earth ends once we get to space.”

“Do we know that for sure?” Peter asked quietly, “I mean, I gave you this plan to go back in time and it worked but…” Peter threw his arms up in exasperation before wincing and lowering them back down immediately. “But by doing so we screwed up reality itself. If I hadn’t convinced you guys to come back in time with me then none of this would have happened.”

Doctor Strange was quiet after Peter spoke and for a second the boy worried he’d said something wrong. He knew he did that often, spoke without a thought about how it might affect the person he was talking to, a rambling problem Aunt May had once gently chided. Peter sat up, mouth open to give Doctor Strange an apology when the man finally spoke; “I became Sorcerer Supreme nearly two years ago.” Doctor Strange lifted his right hand and curled his fingers in a weak fist, hand shaking tremendously before he unclenched it and let it rest against his knee, “Back then I was arrogant, stubborn, and egotistical. Unwilling to see the world beyond my own nose. When I was in the car accident I thought my life was ruined. My hands would never work the same but I couldn’t accept that, I couldn’t accept that I was no longer the best.

“I spent my fortune on surgeries that would never work, poured my funds into research on how to fix my hands until finally, I had nothing left to spend. I blamed everyone else for my failures then, as though my hands weren’t destroyed by my own cause, as though the money I was losing was someone else's doing. I lost sight of myself, I was desperate.” Doctor Strange sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, turning his head to look Peter in the eyes, “I searched out the Ancient One in hopes of finally fixing my hands but what she gave me was so much more.”

“But your hands aren’t fixed,” Peter frowned as he moved closer to Doctor Strange, peering at the scars that stretched along Doctor Strange's fingers intently.

“No, they aren’t,” Strange agreed quietly, “I was given an ultimatum.”

“You’re hands or being Sorcerer Supreme.”

“No,” Strange replied, stretching out his scarred hands, “My old perfect life that was centred solely on me or something greater than I could ever become. I chose the latter option and everything that it entailed.” 

“Do you ever regret it?” Peter asked quietly, eyes flickering up to meet Doctor Strange’s, only slightly desperate for an answer, “Do you ever regret not going back to your normal life?”

“Sometimes I wonder about what I could be doing at this very moment if I hadn’t chosen to become Sorcerer Supreme,” Doctor Strange admitted slowly, “Sometimes when things get tough I sit back and let my anger envelop me and think about how if I were still a surgeon then I would never have had to deal with this.

“But then I wonder; who would do the things that I do? Who would fight the otherworldly creatures? Who would go grocery shopping so Wong doesn’t eat soup three times a day, seven days a week? Sometimes I regret it but I know that if I were to go back to that moment, to that choice, I would still choose to become Sorcerer Supreme.” Doctor Strange sighed before he set a hand on Peter’s head, “So yes, sometimes I regret choosing what I did but at the same time I don’t think there is anything else I would rather be doing with my life.”

“Alright,” Peter replied softly as he laid back in the bed again, closing his eyes against the fluorescent lights of the room, trying desperately to ignore the tingling in his arms and face from where he could almost feel his body trying to heal them. “Alright.”

**//-//-//**

“Well,” Rhodey mused aloud as he peered into the different monitors that showed the Demogoblin pounding against the unbreakable walls of its containing unit, “If I was that ugly I’d want to get even with the dude responsible too.”

“I have FRIDAY looking through its DNA right now,” Tony sighed as he tapped away at a holoscreen before pulling up a labelled DNA strand for Rhodey to see, “For all that its body mutated, its cells and genetic code are mostly stable which allows FRIDAY to find a match in our system and monitor our version of this thing so whatever happened to it doesn’t happen to ours.”

“So what, we find our version of whatever that thing is and,” Rhodey made a few hand signs and Tony scrunched up his nose, shaking his head immediately, “What! You can’t look me in the eye and tell me that wouldn’t be easier!”

“Getting rid of or detaining the guy for something that might not even happen isn’t the way to deal with things, Rhodey,” Tony mused as he pulled up the body scan FRIDAY had done of the demogoblin when it had been in the suit, frowning at the mostly human build-up the being had. “Besides, I don’t feel like getting in any more legal trouble than what I’m undoubtedly going to be in after all of this.”

“I’ve found a forty-three percent DNA match boss,” FRIDAY cut in, “Normally I wouldn’t bother informing you about such a low percentage but it’s the highest match there is.”

“Alright, who's our match?”

“Jason Macendale Jr., boss.”

“Alright get eyes on him and I want a full detail background search,” Tony ordered as he closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. “If you find even a thread of something off about the guy report it to me immediately.” Tony paused, opening his eyes to glower at the wailing figure of the demogoblin, “And tell the wizard to get down here, he’s the one who told me to give him a couple of hours, it’s been three. I need him down here now.” 

Tony had woken from his come exactly twenty-one hours ago, he knew because FRIDAY, even when busy with the tasks he’d provided her, still chided him quietly as she warned him of the negative effects that lack of sleep caused. Rhodey was quick to call him out too, though he spoke in less informational terms and more if you don’t get up and go to bed, or hell, eat something, then I am going to drag you out and force care onto you.

Sitting in front of a screen glaring at the thing that had almost killed Peter probably wasn’t the most efficient way to stay awake but considering the events the day Tony assumed it was better than talking to his PR agent about the allegations regarding Peter being his biological kid. Seriously he had to fire the dude, he’d kept insinuating that there was truth to what was currently propagating the headlines of less serious news-outlets. Peter, for all his smarts, wasn’t Tony’s son and as amusing as the media coverage was, Tony knew better than to put the Parker family in irrelevant danger. They’d already lost so much; losing more because Tony liked it when people called Peter his son was far too selfish.

Tony’s own thoughts stuttered as he re-evaluated what had just crossed his mind. He, as much as he wanted to deny it, liked the thought of Peter as his son. A kid he’d taken under his wing to raise up to become a proper hero; to become better than him. Tony sighed, looking up at the ceiling and tracing the patterns with his eyes, Peter was a smart kid, strong and happy to learn, ready for any fight no matter how hard. As much as he liked the thought of Peter being his son he knew he couldn’t do that to the kid, he knew what happened to people who got too close to him. Pepper was a prime example of that and with the threats they were facing now… Tony shook his head, he could like something but he had to be logical when it came to things like this. 

_When it came to lives._

“Tony, Strange is here.” Rhodey’s voice broke him from his musings and he glanced back at the two men who had just reentered the room.

Now that, Tony mused, was an entirely different headache.

“So the doc finally makes an appearance!” Tony drawled as he spun his chair around to face the wizard, “You’re looking better at the least.”

“I meditated.”

“That’s all?” Tony drawled, leaning forward conspiratorially, “I thought you’d be doing all sorts of wizard things. Like, per-say, preparing to magically extract information out of our interdimensional guest? I mean, meditating can’t be the only thing you’ve been doing.”

“I took a shower,” Strange deadpanned before moving forwards and swiftly moving Tony’s rolling chair out of the way, expertly ignoring Tony’s comical squawk of indignation, leaning slightly to look down at the different monitor screens, “Has it stopped banging at the walls at all?”

“No,” Rhodey grimaced, eyebrows rising at Tony in amusement before he turned his attention back to Strange, “It started banging around the cell the moment we let the suit of armour off it. Hasn’t shut up either, it's been howling and hollering all while pounding away. Half of it’s unintelligible, the other half sounds like some sort of prayer.”

“It stopped once,” Tony grumbled, pulling his chair back to the monitor to purposely shove Strange out of the way. 

“What did it stop for?”

“To pray I assume," Tony shrugged, pulling up an image of the demogoblin seemingly praying on his holoscreen, "It took this strange stance and started to chant something, whatever it was it didn’t work because it got up far more pissed than before.”

Strange raised his eyebrows and approached the holoscreen with thinly vieled approval and Rhodey was quick to speak up, “FRIDAY mentioned that its DNA matches Jason Macendale Jr., is this Macendale dude religious?”

“FRIDAY?”

“From my ongoing search into Mr. Macendale Jr., there has been no connection between him and any popular religion, however, going through his public library check-out list as well as his recent religious based online searches I’ve found him to be researching many different deities and supernatural creatures, the most prominent being N’astirh.”

“N’astirh is a demon, mid-level at most but troublesome none-the-less.” Strange grimaced, glancing back at the monitors and away from the holographic image, “Our demogoblin here is the product of selling your soul and then having it split.” 

“So what, we’ve got the bad portion of the soul here and they’ve got the good part there?”

“We have the demonic soul here,” Strange corrected seriously, “Where the human soul is is up for debate but as long as it’s not here, it’s not our problem.”

“Alright now here’s the big question, can you send it back?”

“Of course I can send it back,” Doctor Strange replied, “The only problem is I need to gouge an understanding of how large the rift between realities is right now.”

“Why?” Rhodey asked, “If we know it’s open and we can just send the dude back, why not do it?”

“Knowing how large the rift is will allow me to estimate how long it will take to properly close, it also allows me to understand if I can aid in its closure properly without wasting my energy when it’s needed for more important things. It also lets me know what I need to look for to send this guy back.”

“So what then, you’re gonna torture the thing for info?” Rhodey grimaced as he stared at the demogoblin that had begun throwing itself at the glass once again, “I’m not sure if it’s really in the mood to talk.”

“I have my ways,” Strange murmured, staring at Rhodey for a second before glancing away to Tony, “Now if I could be shown to its containment unit?”

“I’ll bring you,” Tony said as he stood from his chair with an overdramatic sigh. “Rhodey you should go check on the kid, make sure he isn’t trying to do anything stupid.”

“So make sure he doesn’t do exactly what you would do after being severely injured,” Rhodey smirked as he walked out of the room, “Got it.” 

Tony sputtered on his own tongue with a come-back but Rhodey had already left the room, chuckling all the while.

**//-//-//**

_[22 February 2018, 13:12]_

 **Vertigo** _@erasuredust_4343_

i just found out _#tonystarkhasason_ was trending and when i tell you i gasped-

Also is no one going to talk abt the hot doc who carried the kid out? Idk abt y’all but this stephen strange guy is the real hero _#hotdocsavesthekid_

_[22 February 2018, 13:17]_

**DP** _@chimiichanga_

so _#hotdocsavesthekid_ is trending but it’s not about my absolute hunk Derek Shepherd?? wait.. does grey’s anatomy exist here? Am i gonna be sued for mentioning it? I can’t go back to jail guys please

_[22 February 2018, 13:21]_

**Evelynne** _@itwas_dio_

_#hotdocsavesthekid_ is trending now but can we also start this trend?

_#hotdocandironman_ please you guys have to see the chemistry in the video clips of them, u never hear what they’re talking abt but look at the emotion in their eyes, I ship it, theyre a family theyve gotta be

_[22 February 2018, 13:33]_

**Mikasa Simp** _@erenjeagerrights_

Omg,, omg,, did we get _#hotdocandironman_ trending? Is this really happening??

_[22 February 2018, 13:35]_

**Ellie** _@negasonicboom_

Please tell me the ship _#hotdocandironman_ is not trending right now, please tell me we aren’t seriously shipping to real people, one of whom has a girlfriend, together. Guys I thought we were better than this

_[22 February 2018, 13:37]_

**I JUST WANT A SANDWICH** _@capspecs_

Reply to _@negasonicboom_

dude are you really surprised? I’d feel bad for _@realpepperpotts_ but with the allegations surrounding everyone involved with stark right now i don’t lol

_[22 February 2018, 13:41]_

**lilly** _@lilikitten_

Reply to _@capspecs_

Allegations surrounding Stark??? What did pepper do?? She’s literally the sweetest person ever I don’t understand-

_[22 February 2018, 13:53]_

**Esther** _@teacupbunny_218_

_#tonystarkourhero_

Hey before people start hating on Tony Stark why don’t we remember all the good he’s done? Like yeah he used to make weapons but he’s amended himself and has given the world so much technology that’ll help keep the world clean he’s literally a superhero who helped save NYC… part 1/4

_[22 February 2018, 14:21]_

**I JUST WANT A SANDWICH** _@capspecs_

A bunch of people are asking what i mean by allegations and I could do a rant but there's a literal article about everything linked below, plus if you check out _@daily_bugle_ you’ll find a lot of damning evidence that Pepper’s only around bc Tony gives her paycheck so like,, oop lol

_[22 February 2018, 14:34]_

**Cappycorn** _@venti_latte_

Reply to _@capspecs_

Not you spreading lies from non-credible news sources. _@daily_bugle_ is a news outlet built on bullshit, lies, and jealousy and the article you pulled up was literally from a satire news site. Pepper Potts is in the position she’s in because she is a smart and reliable woman and if Tony Stark were to break up with her (unlikely btw) for any reason she would remain in her position because she earned it and Stark knows that.

Don’t listen to idiots.

**//-//-//**

Getting information out of the demogoblin was like pulling his own teeth out, Stephen mused as he peered at the creature that was unsteadily forcing itself to its feet. Though Stephen supposed it was already used to torture having been intwined with a demon before they’d ever met, “If you tell me what I want to know I can send you back and all of this can be over.”

“It’s always,” The demogoblin rasped, a clawed finger pointed accusingly at him, “It’s always the same thing from people like you. You take and you take and you take,” It glared at him full-on, red eyes gleaming with unbridled hate as it stalked forward slowly, “Your portal is a door, Stephen Strange, it is one that will never fully close, not until you accept the fate that has been bestowed upon you by the gods themselves—”

“And I’ll stop you right there,” Stephen sighed, moving closer to the demogoblin. “I’m unsure of what you know about the mystic arts and the complexities of doorways between dimensions but there is one thing that is commonality between all of them. They always close.” Stephen moved forward, with each word, eyes darkening and magic pooling at his hands in threat, “Now let’s try again shall we? You tell me what I want to know and you get to go home, if you don’t,” Stephen regarded the demogoblin idly, “Well, what’s your universe truly missing without you?”

The demogoblin sneered but didn’t move closer, warily eyeing the unwavering magic that Stephen was producing, “Your portal will never fully close due to the power you used to create it but it will seal over time, opening only when your universe comes into alignment with another. As it is,” The demogoblin grimaced, seemingly thinking on its answer, “I estimate it will take a month or more for your portal to close.”

“Is there a way to keep it from opening?” 

“None that I am aware of,” The demogoblin narrowed its eyes at Stephen, a sneer curling at it’s lips, “Now that I’ve answered your question wizard, you will send me back to my own dimension as you said.” 

“I am a man of my word,” Stephen drawled as he began to create a portal within the mirror dimension, “Do everyone in your world a favour and tell them not to come through to this dimension, I can’t promise they’ll have as warm a welcome as you received.”

In a last moment of rage the demogoblin lunged forward, claws extended and Stephen grimaced at the similarity it was too to Loki charging at him with his knives drawn. With a wave of his hand, the portal met the demogoblin head on and Stephen sighed, “I truly don’t see the point behind charging the person you know can make portals.”

The mirror dimension rippled in a mockery of laughter as Stephen stepped back into the real world and he couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that rested heavily upon his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter done! This story is so fun to write ngl, I have a bunch of things planned out already but I don't want things to go too fast lol.
> 
> Anyways the Twitter threads I keep adding to the story are literally there bc sometimes I don't know what to write for a scene so I'm like, hmmm, what's going on with the public? At first, I was going to delete them after writing everything and just time-skip but then I thought nah they're kind of funny why not keep them! :)
> 
> Comments are super appreciated (they keep me motivated LOL), also in case you haven't noticed the Daily Bugle is going to go through so much slander ;)


	5. When Looking To Disappoint Wong, Simply Be Named Stephen Strange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh to fore-shadow the, possibly terrible, events of the future. 
> 
> My glasses still haven't been fixed lol, please let me know if there are any spelling mistakes I may have missed! :)

**Earth-200007: _February 2018_**

The day before they were set to leave was uneventful, with the time-travelling trio doing nothing more than sorting through what they knew about the infinity stones and what Bruce had told them about the Asgardian’s and Thanos. Doing their best to make plans for what they could.

According to Strange, they would be making more serious plans the next day when they had access to the many different texts the New York Sanctum held in regards to the infinity stones. Tony, using the holoscreen, flipped through a few different articles and video clips that held information on the different anomalies regarding the infinity stones. Watching intently as Thor swung Mjolnir into the face of what SHIELD had labelled as a dark elf, half his attention on Peter.

“In space,” Peter was saying from where he was carefully propped on a couch with an I.V line connected to his arm. He’d refused to stay in the hospital room, complaining about how boring it was and how he wanted to help, how he needed to help. “Mr. Stark said that Dr. Banner explained that Thor had been acting strange, or well, stranger than normal Asgardian strange because his sister had broken his hammer. But like, isn’t Mjolnir supposed to be unbreakable? So Thor acting weird isn’t too worrying but Hela’s ability to break Mjolnir is.”

“Alright so she broke the hammer, she’s also a crazy Goddess who wants to rule the nine realms,” Tony shrugged, switching from looking into the Aether, as Thor had referred to it as, to the Tesseract.

“Or she’s hurting. I mean,” Peter paused for a moment, before glancing up and hurriedly continuing at the skepticism written across Tony’s face, “You have to be worthy to hold Mjolnir, let alone break it. Loki wasn’t even able to hold it so why could Hela?" Peter shrugged helplessly at his own thoughts, "I just think there has to be an option that isn’t killing Hela or destroying Asgard.”

Tony sat back a bit at Peter’s words, frowning as he thought about what the boy had said. Technically it was a plan they could use, getting Hela to stand down and potentially even join their side against Thanos would be extremely useful but she was the Goddess of Death. Someone much more powerful than Loki and Thor combined.

“If we were to go through with this third option,” Strange cut into Tony’s thoughts like one of the scalpels the man used to be so proficient with, “How would we go about it? Hela is the Goddess of Death, Peter. We can’t simply ask her to drop her weapons and listen to us.”

“I know you want to see the good in everyone Peter,” Tony said, “But sometimes that’s just not the case.”

Peter fell silent and looked down at his arms, playing with his bandages while thinking over what Tony and Strange had said. As much as Tony wanted to feel bad he also knew that he had to show the kid the real picture, this was life or death and he couldn’t stomach the thought of his kid dying.

“They called you the Merchant of Death.”

Tony startled, the nickname shaking up memories he long kept from the forefront of his mind and he stared at Peter incredulously, “What?”

“That’s what people called you before you stopped making weapons,” Peter wasn’t looking at him, still playing with the bandages on his arm as he talked, “You were given a second chance, Mr. Stark. Why do we get to decide that Hela doesn’t?”

“She’s lived for centuries, Peter!” Tony snapped, standing up just a bit before he sighed, exhaustion hitting him as he sunk back into his seat and stared at Peter who had looked up at him with wary eyes. “She’s lived centuries longer than us Peter, I’m sure she’s been giving chances before.”

“But we don’t know that! If we just talk to her then maybe she could help us—”

“I’m not going to risk your life on a maybe!”

Strange, who’d been watching their argument with a sharp eye, spoke, “Your plan is smart, Peter but there are far too many faults in it and we don’t want to see you get hurt. If this was any other enemy then I’m sure your plan would have merit but she is the Goddess of Death.”

Peter stood, gripping the I.V pole tightly in one hand, “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“No one but you.”

Peter’s face turned red and his eyes glistened with unshed tears that made Tony’s chest ache. When he spun around and stalked out of the room Tony was quick to sit up and follow the boy, to apologize for his outburst but Strange’s cloak was in front of him, blocking the way Peter had just exited.

“I think Peter would prefer to be alone right now,” Strange said from behind him, arms crossed and a frown on his face, “And I think it would be better if you were to take a break as well, Stark.”

“His plan was just so naive,” Tony said, scrambling to explain himself. He hadn’t meant to yell at his kid, to upset the boy so much that he had to flee from the scene in a familiar way he’d once fled from Howard. He just wanted Peter to understand that he couldn’t risk his life like it was nothing.

“It was,” Stephen agreed carefully, as though he were choosing his words from a bucket, careful not to fish out the wrong ones, “But he’s also a child and as naive as his plans may be, they’re still plans.”

Running a hand through his hair Tony stared at the holoscreen where the holographic tesseract was in view, “I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have allowed him to come back in time with us,” Stephen responded sharply before a softer tone over-took his voice, “Peter is a smart boy, Stark. He knows how to take care of himself and he would never go through with a plan unless he knew it had some chance of success.”

“I know.”

Stephen nodded, his cloak floating back to him and curling around his shoulders as the taller man left the room, leaving Tony standing in silence. His stomach was churning and the effects of a headache nagging at his temples.

He sighed, disturbing the silent air as he stared morosely out of the window, it was only mid-afternoon.

**//-//-//**

Peter felt like he was seven again, storming through his apartment after an argument with Uncle Ben over his birthday.

As grateful as he was to his aunt and uncle when he was a child, he hadn’t understood the struggles of money, that hosting a birthday party in their small apartment was near impossible and even the thought of hosting at a pizza place made them worry for next month's rent. He’d been so mad then, crying into his pillow as he thought about Flash Thompson calling him a loser that never held a birthday party.

It felt like that again, Mr. Stark’s dismissal of his plans on helping Hela see reason rather than rage making his chest pound with anger. It reminded him of when Mr. Stark had taken the suit away, of when Mr. Stark had rounded on him in space and yelled at him.

He didn’t like being angry at Mr. Stark, it was like when he’d been angry at Uncle Ben, too hot and too uncomfortable; sitting weighted in his chest. He felt bad for bringing up the Merchant of Death name, it was probably taking it a step too far but Mr. Stark had been given a second chance. Doctor Strange was given a second chance two! It just didn’t make sense to him why they were dismissing Hela as a woman crazed with power when there was clearly something more going on.

Peter, now in his room with his thoughts still running rampant, sighed and collapsed onto the bed, careful of his I.V pole, and pulled out his phone to scroll through a few forums and articles.

He had research to do.

**//-//-//**

The next day, Stark had offered to have his bodyguard Happy drive the trio to the New York Sanctum and upon Stephen’s initial refusal had amended his statement with a casual, “I’ll drive then.”

Stephen had been all too ready to open a portal, even if his magic was still depleted he’d been willing to risk it, far too wary of getting into the car, scoffing at Stark's words with a murmured, “That’s worse, actually.”

Stark had been undeterred by Stephen. Scoffing when he saw the sparks of magic on Stephen’s fingertips, scolding him with his own words about needing to preserve his magic for the inevitable Asgardian family meeting they would be interrupting. It annoyed him because Stark wasn’t wrong; he knew that just teleporting Loki and Thor into the Sanctum and then taking them all to meet the All-Father would drain his power profusely. 

But that didn’t take away from the fact that this would be the first car he’d been in since his accident.

The scars on his hands itched the entire drive, even as he listened intently as Peter rambled about different topics, mostly relating to the Asgardians they were soon going to meet. Stephen was still glad for the distraction, eyes never straying from the over-excitable boy sitting in the seat beside him. Stephen had turned down the offer of sitting in the front almost immediately, preferring to sit in the back with his overly tightened seat belt digging into the column between his shoulder and neck. It was almost comforting. 

Road safety, Stephen mused as Peter mocked swinging Mjilnor and quickly sat properly into his seat at the slight glare he sent the boy’s way, was something he’d never forgo again.

Stephen, for a single moment, took his eyes off of Peter and glanced at Stark who was tapping at the wheel repeatedly. The man looked exhausted; a pair of sunglasses were propped on his face to hide the bags under his eyes but Stephen could tell everything was taking its toll on the man. After the argument, Stark and Peter had the day before the older man had disappeared into his lab and according to FRIDAY the man had met with Ms. Potts later that night and now he wasn’t his usual exuberant self. It was worrying if only because with Stark’s mind on something else could lead to their downfall in battle.

Stephen grimaced, sitting back in his seat as Peter spoke to him, never raising his voice in excitement as he usually would, about how exciting it would be to; “See Mr. Loki’s magic up close, he’s super cool! Even if he did destroy a bunch of New York.”

If it came down to it and Stark was still in his own head along with his own powers being drained all responsibility would fall onto Peter and that… that wasn’t something Stephen wanted to think about. Peter was resourceful, a quick-thinker on his feet and that was a constant through-out the universe but he was also a child and Stephen didn’t like throwing children into a battle between gods with a half-hearted shrug of, do your best.

Stephen sighed, letting the low sound of pop music and Peter’s chattering drift into his mind and scatter his thoughts. It was better he tried and stayed focused on where he was, on the timeline he was living rather than the ones that were lost to him.

Wong was unimpressed with him, Stephen knew that the moment he had finally walked back into the New York Sanctum but as much as he could feel the disapproval radiating off of him he wanted nothing more than to pull the older man aside and talk to him. He needed to talk to Wong, to tell him he had ignored all of their warnings, that he had put their fate in the hands of a child, a broken man, and himself. But he had seen the future’s waiting ahead of them. Seen the universe in which they’d won. He’d seen the death of Tony Stark, of Natasha Romanoff, of Loki Odinson, of Vision. He had seen it all and here they had a chance to fix things before it went wrong, to save the future by fixing the past and no matter how much Wong would scold him Stephen knew he’d done the right thing. He had to have done the right things because he couldn’t put the fate of the universe onto a single rat and Tony Stark’s life.

Wong, for all his exasperation and disapproval, had let the three of them into the Sanctum without anything more than a calculated don’t touch anything directed to Peter. The boy had been quick to nod, eyes wide as he stared at the foyer as though he’d just stepped into Hogwarts. Stephen ducked the bottom half of his face into the cloak, hiding his amused smile before he turned his attention to Wong and grimaced, “I’m certain you and the other’s have already felt the disturbance in reality.”

“Yes, the dimensional rift between our reality and the spanning multiverse spelt out what you had done quite clearly, Stephen.”

He had the decency to grimace at Wong’s sharp words, there were no excuses to him having used the time stone in the manner he had. Nothing he could say that would truly matter but he knew that Wong understood, if only partially, that he would not have used the stone if not for an emergency.

It was a better plan than giving the time stone to Thanos, at the very least.

“It was my plan sir,” Peter spoke up almost immediately before Stephen could tell Wong anything, “I gave him the idea to go back in time Doctor Strange did think it over, he didn’t just agree on the spot. He doesn’t seem like the type of person to break the rules without taking into account the effect it’ll have.”

“You are correct about that.” Wong sighed before turning a sharp gaze to Stephen, “I’ll watch over the Sanctum while you are away, Stephen and I will keep the other Masters at bay until you come up with a proper excuse for misusing the time stone,” He paused, eyes flickering to Peter for a moment a slight quirk on his lips, “One that doesn’t have a child speaking on your behalf.”

“In all fairness, he spoke up himself,” Stephen quipped before bowing his head to Wong, “But thank you, Wong, I’ll try to save the world in a convenient time frame so your afternoons aren’t booked up.”

“It would be appreciated,” Wong deadpanned before walking up the steps of the foyer. “I’ll leave you to whatever it is you’ve got planned Stephen, though do be sure not to destroy the universe anymore than you have. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have afternoon tea planned in the Hong Kong Sanctum.”

“You hate the people at the Hong Kong sanctum,” Stephen called back before locking eyes with Peter who was getting rather close to one of the bookshelves situated on the lower floor, “Peter, you and Stark should sit down and rest until the Asgardians arrive.”

“Are you sure?” Peter asked, bouncing away from the bookshelves and towards one of the couches even as he spoke, “I mean, I’m sure I could help with something.”

“I don’t need to be side-lined either,” Stark mused, raising a single eyebrow towards Stephen, “But hey, if you don’t want us stepping on your toes that’s up to you, Harry Potter.”

Stephen could already feel his headache coming at him at full force, but with a wave of his hand a pile of books fell onto the couch, “Read those, they hold basic information regarding the different infinity stones, it’s better that you know at least something about them.”

Peter nodded his head while Stark gave a lazy two-fingered salute, grabbing a couple of books before he moved to sit down on a couch that was opposite Peter. Stephen sighed, turning his focus away from the two others in the room as he waved his hand, stepping into the library settled deep within the Sanctum. As much light reading as the two others had to do, he had much more extensive research to conduct. After all, one didn’t fight the goddess of death, a mad titan, and gather the infinity stones unprepared.

The Cloak of Levitation curled around his shoulders for a moment, a comforting gesture to ground him as he sighed, raising a hand in a mimic of petting the Cloak.

It would be fine.

**//-//-//**

_[24 February 2018, 13:21]_

 **DP** _@chimiichanga_

on a scale of police force to x-men to avengers how screwed is the planet if an alien drops in unannounced? asking for a friend interested in cosmic forces.

_[24 February 2018, 13:26]_

**CEO of Failing Gym** _@xaandlers_

Omg guys look, direct quote from the New York Times; _“Tony Stark was seen driving through downtown New York with Peter Parker and Stephen Strange, where they were heading is unknown but people are incredibly intrigued. Especially with yesterday’s event with Stark Enterprises CEO Pepper Potts leaving the Avenger’s compound without the Stark man at her side despite earlier reports of them having a reservation at Hell’s Kitchen.”_

Something sus is going on guys

_[24 February 2018, 13:33]_

**just a thot** _@hannigram_inc_

God, okay so everyone knows that there was footage from the hospital and that it was leaked by someone unedited without sound unfortunately but like Peter Parker has been through so much. Just, in general, like the boys parent’s die, he lives with his aunt, watched his uncle die in front of him, goes to a school is exceptionally smart and undoubtedly gets bullied (it’s public school guys) and now he falls into a coma, wakes up and goes to check on Strange who we can assume Peter has some sort of relationship with, and nearly dies because a monster attacks the hospital he’s in. Like?? Can we leave this boy alone please, I’m surprised he hasn’t broken down yet

_[24 February 2018, 13:37]_

**baguette aussi?** _@frenchfrie_

Reply to _@hannigram_inc_

omg not to mention the kids a literal stark intern?? He’s been seen with stark before and ppl just brushed it off but now tho, stark literally went and saved this kid, he showed up in person and now ppl are getting all up in his grill like, he’s a kid what the hell guys

_[24 February 2018, 13:43]_

**💫viviana💫** _@dekusicx_

God people are really getting mad over nothing huh? If tony stark doesn’t want people talking about his son and gay lover he shouldn’t be so quick to go and save them like,, god what did he expect? 

_[24 February 2018, 13:54]_

**Cappycorn** _@venti_latte_

Reply to _@dekusicx_

Gods, the fact that you’re still talking is sickening. Tony Stark is allowed to have a favourite intern. Tony Stark is allowed to have friends. Tony Stark is allowed to drive his friend and his favourite intern home. And if it is true, if Peter Parker is Tony’s son and Stephen Strange is Tony’s lover then that’s for him to disclose to the public, not for you to assume.

**//-//-//**

The knowledge on the different stones varied in quantity, most of the information was outdated and anything related to the Power stone and Soul stone was purely speculation. In fact, most of the tomes and scrolls settled into a neat pile on the couch were written by hand.

It was enthralling to read, Tony mused as he flipped through a journal covering the Mind stone, scanning through the different hand-writing and yellowing pages. It was almost funny to see how much people of the past had understood and misjudged exactly what these stones were.

Peter, who was reading through a journal based around the Space stone, had said out loud that as much as these wizards had gotten right there was a glaring gap between what they had previously learned of the Tesseract. 

“Just listen to this, Mr. Stark,” Peter had said, eyes flickering up to his for a moment, his smile wide before slipping his gaze went back to the book the smile dropping; “After its retrieval from the Nazi organization HYDRA, the Tesseract was put into the hands of Howard Stark. Stark would then, after decades of failed attempts to harness the Tesseracts power, help in the foundation of Project PEGASUS which would become the new holder for the Tesseract. The true goal of Project PEGASUS remains unknown but it’s heavily speculated that Nicholas Fury had a role in the Tesseracts handling.” Peter paused, skimming through the words and flipping a few pages forward as is to check something before grimacing, “There’s a whole subsection to Project PEGASUS in this journal, a few pages up talking about a discussion whoever wrote this had with Director Fury. One of the like, repeating factors is that Director Fury kept repeating we weren’t alone in the world and he only gave a name after a lot of well-placed questions.”

“What’s the name kid?” Tony asked as he set aside the heavy book that detailed the time stone to his side, already pulling up a holo-screen.

“A woman by the name of Carol Danvers, according to the writer's own research there was nothing special about her. Just another pilot who went missing in a failed aerial test.”

“Went missing,” Tony mused, sorting through files with the help of FRIDAY, “But not declared dead.”

From his glasses FRIDAY chimed in, moving a series of photos onto the holo-screen Tony had hovering before him, “According to what I can find, Carol Danvers went missing in 1989 but she was declared MIA rather than KIA because her body wasn’t recovered in the crash unlike Doctor Wendy Lawson, who was found dead at the scene with suspected foul play involved.” 

“So what about Danvers?”

“Well according to SHIELD files, Carol Danvers’ was seen again sometime in the 1990s by Nick Fury.”

“Any other info?” 

“Nothing that isn’t encrypted boss,” FRIDAY replied apologetically, “By the time I got it to you I’m afraid you’d already be out of range to contact Director Fury.”

“Don’t worry about it FRI,” Tony said, “I’m used to running off less info than I’d want.”

“That’s good,” Strange cut in almost immediately, sweeping into the room swiftly and suddenly with magic dancing along his fingers, “Because Loki and Thor just landed on earth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh subtly, thou is not my name.
> 
> Comments are appreciated!


	6. an Ode to the Goddess of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time-travellers explain who they are and why they've come to the Asgardian brothers. In true fashion, the brothers ignore their warnings and do what they want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update? What a surprise!
> 
> I'll be trying to reply to all of the comments on this story today! I love reading all the comments and feedback on this story it's always nice! Thanks for reading guys and if you see any mistakes let me know! :)

**Earth-200007: _February 2018_**

The _New York Sanctum Sanctorum_ was usually a very quiet place — most sorcerers spending their time in _Kamar Taj_ practicing or staying in the farthest areas of the Sanctum; studying for one threat after the other. Though novice sorcerers, which were far and few between, often ran through the Sanctum on their visits —lighting the building up with youthful energy with every visit— they never reached the volume that the Sanctum was reaching now. Though Stephen supposed summoning Asgardians into the Scantum would always lead to something loud.

“Midgardians should not have the capabilities to wield the power of time,” Loki was saying, his body seemingly loose but his eyes were narrowed; it gave Stephen the uncanny vibe of a snake coiled and ready to strike when he least expected it.

“Midgardians are quite a surprising people, brother,” Thor mused from where he was now leaning against the banister of the stairs leading into the deeper parts of the Sanctum, his voice holding amusement and underlying tiredness. “You’d do well to keep from underestimating them as you have been. Though I will admit that I am also intrigued by your story wizard, time walking is not a small feat to accomplish, to bring three back all at once is unheard of.”

“The time stone is able to accomplish many impressive stunts, sending three people back was no problem. What sending three people back did to the fabric of our reality is.” Stephen sighed, running a hand down his face as if he could wipe his stress away. “When sending the three of us back I may have miscalculated the risk it had on tearing through reality, I was more concerned with our chances of defeating the ever-present threat looming towards us.”

“Thanos.” Thor finished with a thoughtful frown. “My Father battled him once centuries ago, before any of you came into existence, of course. Hel, I’m not sure even I was yet alive during his battle against the Mad Titan. Father won that battle with the aid of the Valkyrie, though the cost was one he never told us.” 

“The Valkyrie were women warriors like the Amazon’s, right?” Peter spoke up for the first time since the gods had appeared in the Sanctum. His awe at being stood before a god pushed aside in place for his curiosity, “Because according to what Dr. Banner told us the Valkyrie you ended up meeting said she was like, the last one alive.”

“The last one fit for duty more like,” Loki mused. “Being a Valkyrie was a noble job; one that rewarded each warrior greatly until they could no longer do battle and were moved into Vanaheim to live the rest of their lives in merry retirement.”

“So some of them are still alive?” Peter asked, head tilting curiously as a thousand thoughts flitted behind his eyes. “Because if they are I’m sure they couldn’t have been happy with Odin’s decision to hide away the truth behind the disbandment of the Valkyrie.”

“Clever boy,” Loki said. “The Valkyrie used to reside in Asgard during their retirement, living only a few buildings away from _Valaskjalf_. Odin moved them to reside in Vanaheim under the guise of it being to not only strengthen the bond between the Vanir and Aesir people, but to also not remind the retired Valkyrie of what they had lost.”

“Now we know that in truth father merely moved the Valkyrie to further hide the past.” Thor mused, “Though father has always talked in riddles I had never guessed his secrets would lead so far.”

“His descriptions of Thanos, from what he did tell us, were that the titan was no more than a coward, thrusting his armies forwards in some false hope he would be able to win against Asgards finest but when his armies were lost he turned tail and fled, never to be heard from again.” Loki paused for a beat, of what he was thinking Stephen couldn't tell, the gods body-language giving nothing away in the slightest. “You mentioned that you did not account for the tear in reality, and while I do feel it I’m not very well equipped with your Midgardian sorcery so I’ve no true way in understanding exactly what you've done.”

“You can only tell that something has changed,” Stephen grimaced.

“Unfortunately so,” Loki said. “So if you wouldn’t mind explaining the full of your plan, it would be so very useful.”

Stephen paused for a moment, eyes flicking to the cracked face of his wristwatch before he nodded, “We have twenty-five minutes so you’ll get a run-down now and more detail later.”

“So long as we aren’t going in without a plan.” Loki conceded.

“We think if we can collect all the stones we can use them to get rid of the oversized raisin while also fixing the tear in reality permanently,” Stark said, snapping his fingers as if to emphasize his point—it made Stephen suppress a shudder as he thought on just how similar that snap was to the millions of snaps he’d seen in the timeline beyond them, it gave Stephen a dark foreboding feeling— “If we have all of them then Thanos won’t have a way to retaliate against us.”

“Smart as that plan may seem,” Loki drawled, “From what you’ve told us about your future Thanos will already have the power stone by the time Asgard falls, so unless you have some plan on how to have half of us on this Sakaar to find your Hulk we will still be at a disadvantage.”

“That’s why I said we should try and convince Hela to join our side.” Peter jumped immediately at the chance to voice his opinion.

“Kid,” Stark grimaced, “We’ve already had this talk. Hela—”

“Thor said it himself didn’t he?” Peter said, turning to look at Stark with a frown painting his face, “Odin fought Thanos before he or Loki was alive which means he probably fought him with Hela! He’d be a common enemy so if we could just convince her to—”

“You can’t convince death not to kill you!” 

“And how would you know that!?”

“The plan has its merits,” Loki mused before the fight between Stark and Peter could escalate. “Negotiating with the Goddess of Death isn’t necessarily the smartest move but between that and our first option of allowing her to destroy Asgard I would take the first option.”

“My brother is quite adept in convincing people.” Thor chuckled before his expression sobered, “Though convincing Hela not to invoke Ragnarok after being imprisoned by our Father probably won’t go the best way.”

“Yes, because trusting Reindeer games with converting the Goddess of Death to our side would end perfectly,” Stark deadpanned. “The guy threw me out a window!”

“That was years ago,” Loki drawled, “Don’t you Midgardians live your lives following that forgive and forget phrase?”

“You killed over eighty men in three days, you destroyed part of New York with an alien army!”

Dryly, Loki said; “I found out I was adopted.”

Peter snorted at that and Stephen rolled his eyes, “We’ve wasted enough time here, Odin will wait for you both for as long as he can but a dying man can hold back death for only so long.”

Thor winced at the reminder of his Father’s impending doom and Stephen nearly felt bad for the god; he was counting on three time-travellers, two of whom he’d never met, to help save his kingdom from the impending doom in the form of his sister. “Let us waste no more time than, wizard.”

“All of you can call me Stephen,” He said while opening a portal to the cliffs of Norway. “I’m quite sure none of you want to be wasting time calling out the name Doctor Strange while we’re fighting for our lives.” 

“I’m Tony of course,” Stark—Tony now, Stephen mused— drawled, “Except for you Reindeer Games, I don’t think I can stomach hearing anything other than Stark coming from your mouth.”

Loki, who was standing close to Stephen, seemingly examining the portal that led to the green cliff sides, deadpanned; “I’ll try to keep myself from referring to you at all then.”

Thor let out a loud, happy laugh —a laugh Stephen was sure they wouldn’t hear again for a long time— and stepped forwards to the portal, “Adventure waits for no one, off we go!” And he stepped through, easily visible from the other side of the portal he turned and gave a comical thumbs up as if to say ‘Hey, I’m still alive!’

With a wide grin, Peter followed the god, jumping through the portal and stumbling forward; Thor steading him in view with another chuckle. Peter spun around, face practically glowing from how wide his smile was.

Loki was next, carefully stepping through the portal, narrowing his eyes at the seams as though he expected to peer through the very fabric of reality Stephen was warping. Upon stepping out on the other side of the portal Loki hummed, smoothing out the front of his suit and moving to stand where Peter and Thor were seemingly talking with one another.

“Tony,” Stephen called, looking at the man who stared warily at the portal Stephen held open, “It’s quicker than anything and exactly like walking through a door.” 

“An interdimensional, science-defying door.” Tony snarked back before sighing, shaking out his arms as he prepared himself, “I swear, I’m never going to like travelling like this.”

“It’s a very convenient method of travel,” Stephen said, “If you need to close your eyes and run through, I’ll keep you from falling.”

“My hero,” Tony rolled his eyes before he closed them and full out sprinted into the portal like Stephen had suggested, passing through easily and Stephen followed quickly. Closing the portal behind him once he was through and catching Tony by the arm before the shorter man could fall from the shift of the ground below them.

Tony peeled open one eye slowly before he opened both eyes and blinked, turning his head to look at Stephen; “Neat.”

“You travelled back in time not even last week,” Stephen smirked, letting his hand fall from Tony’s arm, “And this is neat?”

Tony shrugged, “I’ve been told I’m impressed by strange things.”

Stephen shook his head, suppressing a chuckle as he began making his way towards Peter and the Asgardian gods who were a few feet ahead of the teenager. Tony followed behind him, matching Stephen’s strides as they stepped up beside Peter.

“They’re saying their goodbyes,” Peter murmured, his hands wringing together. “Uhm I think they’re asking about Thanos and Hela too but well, he’s kind of already fading so…”

Ahead of them, Odin’s body began to fade into a gold shimmer of stardust, the wind carrying him over the waters below; carrying him away to meet his wife once again.

Behind the three humans, the air shifted and Stephen tensed, spinning on his heel he grabbed Tony’s arm and pulled him back. Beside him, Peter had already activated his suit in a similar way Tony had activated his on the streets of New York against the alien sorcerer, backing away from the portal with them.

Thor and Loki had stood quickly, lightning struck where Thor was standing and a flash of green magic later the two Asgardians were dressed in armour rather than Midguardian clothing.

The portal opened and the Goddess of Death emerged. Her sunken eyes, a venomous green that popped with dark designs of kohl Hela wore, trailed across the five of them and ever so slowly her head tilted and a deadly smile curled across her lips, “So he’s gone?” A beat of silence followed and she sighed, stretching her arms slowly. Casually. “A shame, I would’ve liked to have seen it.”

“You must be Hela.” Thor, after a moment of tense silence, said. “I’m Thor, son of Odin.” 

Hela’s head tilted in that same slow and uneasy fashion, “Truly? You look nothing like him.”

Loki, trying to regain any semblance of the plan they’d all spoken of before, spoke, “Perhaps we could reach an arrangement.”

“You sound like him,” Hela chuckled, green eyes landing unwaveringly on Loki who shifted back in a way Stephen would almost call nervous.

Her eyes drifted onto the three of them next, her lips curling up wider, “Midguardians? You’ve evolved since I've last seen your kind.”

“Yeah well, things tend to change when you get locked away for a few millennia.” Tony quipped, still out of his armour apart from a pair of gauntlets formed around his hands, repulsors aimed at the Goddess of Death and whirring quietly as they charged with power. 

Hela chuckled dangerously and Stephen looked from Tony, whose face was set in a grim sort of way, to Peter but the boy’s mask was up and any emotion he may have been feeling was hidden from him. The Cloak of Levitation curled around him and Stephen grimaced, allowing his magic to curl underneath his skin as Hela stalked forward slowly.

Thor’s grip on Mjolnir tightened and the god shifted his stance, ready for an attack.

Hela spread her arms and smiled, eyes glinting in a way that promised danger; “Kneel.”

“Beg your pardon?” Loki nearly guffawed.

A shimmer of magic and Hela pointed a pitch-black sword towards them, “I said kneel before your Queen.”

“Not happening,” Thor deadpanned at the same time as Tony scoffed out; “You wish.”

Thor threw Mjolnir at Hela, ignoring the previous warnings the three time-travellers had given him before. Hela, as Stephen expected, caught Mjolnir with one hand and with a cruel smirk she cocked her head to meet Thor’s widened eyes, his hand outstretched as he tried to summon Mjolnir back to his hand.

“It’s not possible,” Thor breathed, eyes wide on Hela.

“Darling,” Hela drawled, her single hand gripping tighter on Mjolnir, “You have no idea what’s possible.”

Being told Mjolnir was destroyed and watching it happen was two different extremes, Stephen decided. Being told Mjolnir was destroyed initiated a sense of shock and surprise, a wonder for how strong a person had to be to destroy such an object. Watching it happen initiated a deep-rooted fear that a person may not have known they had. The blast of power that came from the sheer destruction of Mjolnir was enough to make them stumble and Stephen could only gap at the sheer power the goddess had; the ability to destroy Mjolnir with one hand and not even break a sweat.

Thor stepped back and Loki grabbed his brother's arm, pulling him closer to where Stephen and the others were standing as he shouted into the sky; “Bring us back!”

“No!” Thor yelled, shoving himself out of Loki’s hold but it was too late for the Bi-Frost had already enveloped all of them. 

Hela lunged at them as the Bi-Frost hit and Stephen grimaced, his hands reaching up to grab onto Thor who was cursing loudly above him. Hela was in the Bi-Frost as well, getting closer with every second and Tony aimed his repulsors at her and let lose the energy he’d been previously charging. It knocked her off balance for a moment and before she could recover Loki flung two daggers at her; each of them hitting their mark.

With a sneer, Hela recovered herself and plowed through the two males. Tony fell from the Bi-Frost, and in a last-ditch effort of fighting back, he blasted Hela once again before disappearing fully. 

In her moment of distraction, Loki flailed, gripping onto Hela’s heel for a moment before she came to her senses and kicked him off. Before he could fall from the Bi-Frost however, a thick, sturdy web caught him by the chest and pulled him up fast. Loki cursed wickedly at the whiplash of moving up so fast, grabbing on tightly to the rope-like web, and took the chance to kick Hela on his way up to Peter, who was ahead of all of them. 

Hela caught Stephen by the leg and he cursed, kicking at the goddess’ face in an attempt to dislodge her. Using his powers in the Bi-Frost wouldn’t be wise, the two different magick’s could possibly react to each other in a negative way and he didn't want to risk killing everyone here. Thor shouted something above him but Stephen couldn’t hear him over the sound of his own heart pounding and the Bi-Frost. 

Hela was using him as a ladder, his futile attempt to keep her off and down doing nothing and he cursed, struggling as best he could. Her hand curled around his face and Stephen let go of Thor, hoping to put some distance between them, as he pushed against Hela's face to try and push her away from him. Her hand squeezed harshly against his face and Stephen's mind flashed back to when she'd destroyed Mjolnir with the same hand. The Cloak lashed out at Hela then, causing her to let go of Stephen and scratch at the magic artifact. With a curse, Hela kicked away from Stephen, sending the sorcerer flying away to the side of the Bi-Frost until a line of webbing connected with his hand. Stephen held tight, eyes wide as he stared up at Peter who was struggling to pull him up against the raging pull of the Bi-Frost.

The Cloak flew from Hela's face and flew back to Stephen, curling back around his shoulder. Above him Hela had grabbed onto Thor, a blade materializing in her hand as she prepared to kill him. In a last-ditch method to survive, Thor tucked his feet in and kicked Hela in the stomach, dislodging himself from Hela’s grasp and sending himself hurdling from the Bi-Frost.

Hela grabbed on the thread that was connected to Stephen, her green eyes glancing down to meet his as she gave him a cruel smirk and cut the bottom half of the web. Stephen fell from the Bi-Frost, the Cloak of Levitation wrapped around him tightly, quietly praying that Peter would be safe in Loki’s care.

And with that last thought, Stephen allowed himself to succumb to the darkness dancing in his vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The group's been separated; oh no! I wonder where they'll all end up?


End file.
